Life is So Much Better When You Scream

by Miriam Green

If you had asked if I was happy
that summer the peaches shriveled
on the tree and we roamed the malls
buying our desires like so many forbidden fruits;
if you had asked as I worked in the house,
the kids returning to eat and dump
their laundry and I contemplated
their abundant energy, and
you washed the darks in hot water
and pinked my new shirt;
when I knocked the wine on the floor
and glass cut my leg,
or even as we marked another anniversary
of promises;
I would have said yes
and meant it,
the roller coasters
I’d refused to ride
a poor imitation of the loop-d-loops
we share together.