Iowa Writes
BONNIE MANION First Time, Last Time
The first time I saw her's pretty face, so young, too shy, eager to be included, she was part of the church youth group, only fifteen. I, just home from a Rotary student exchange year abroad, wore a shock of blond hair grazing my older and more sophisticated brow, was a senior reconnecting with a popular crowd of old school friends. We went steady four years, even after I went on to college ahead of her, until she said she wanted to date someone else on campus. We stayed off and on a couple more shifting years until I gave her a diamond ring for her birthday, and because it had been six years. She said yes because she'd just lost a beauty pageant and she knew I loved her. We had already been a couple for a long time. Only two years after our wedding, she began secretly seeing another man. Kept me in the dark for six months, because I wanted to believe she hadn't stopped loving me despite her weekend absences and our loss of intimacy. Finding out her treachery from phone records was agony. She confirmed my fears a last time we passed, without touching, through a house that never was our home
|
About Iowa Writes
Since 2006, Iowa Writes has featured the work of Iowa-identified writers (whether they have Iowa roots or live here now) and work published by Iowa journals and publishers on The Daily Palette. Iowa Writes features poetry, fiction, or nonfiction twice a week on the Palette.
In November of 2008, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Iowa City, Iowa, the world's third City of Literature, making the community part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
Iowa City has joined Edinburgh, Scotland and Melbourne, Australia as UNESCO Cities of Literature.
Find out more about submitting by contacting iowa-writes@uiowa.edu
BONNIE MANION Bonnie Manion attended the UI's Summer Writing Festival in 2008. She has published approximately 170 poems over the past eight years and mostly writes about death, cancer, aging, prison, nature, the angst in human relationships, and spiritual matters. |
This page was first displayed on August 05, 2009
|