Carol Lynn Grellas

The Waiting Room

It’s the morning of your appointment
and you pretend there’s nothing wrong.

You kiss the children, pour milk
over Wheaties, and don your special

dress for the waiting room where you’ll
await the verdict that might destroy

your life. You choose the dress
that hangs in back, tucked between

Summer and Fall, understated
and black to suit your practical mind;

easily tossed if you hear bad news
and it’s the one you wore to your mother’s

funeral; pockets still full of prayers.

Carol Lynn Grellas is the author of two chapbooks: Litany of Finger Prayers, forthcoming from Pudding House Press and Object of Desire newly released from Finishing Line Press. She is a two-time Pushcart nominee and widely published in magazines and online journals, including most recently, The Hiss Quarterly, Flutter, The Oak Bend Review and an electronic chapbook, Desired Things from Gold Wake Press.  She lives with her husband, five children and a blind dog named Ginger.