the letters arrive almost daily = still crisp from their travels
{London + Vienna + Paris}
and she s/its every one open with a whetted kitchen knife not the pearl-handled letter-opener he gave her last September with her initials calligraphied
"E.E." on its filigreed cusp
a tender script heavily inked = words thoughtfully chosen
tamed beasts of burden that carry the weight of his lust
for her = once his darling mistress
now his accommodating wife
and the unsecreted "unwanted" others
{Mrs. L + Mrs. M + Margarita} who multiply
{her 20-year-old daughter, his next step, maybe?}
the Mrs. knows E likes L's aggressive posturing
the lady of the house sees E succomb to M's docile compliance
his better half reads that E is smitten with Margarita's full pout and tight ass
still they are not not not her equal
and what of his infidelity, relatively speaking? these candid epistles are not confessions they are revelations for his chosen Magdalene weightless sacrifices she is willing to make to kiss the feet of genius and quiet him in her skirted lap
the knife however she does not return to the drawer when she is finished reading the letter finished folding it twice and tucking it gently into the aero-postaled envelope finished placing it in her high holiday hat box with the others
the knife
she slips
into the
pleated folds
of her
pocket fingering
its thin
edge welcoming
the cut
(gracious hostess
that she
is) which
reassures her
that she
still bleeds