Ellen June Wright


Laure at Night

(after Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1863, Oil on Canvas)


Night filling every
     corner and pressing in,

stars so much brighter
    than my own,

what did you imagine
     there in the dark
of your garret room

on your mattress filled
     with straw, horse hair
or wire coils?

Was your new-won freedom
     sweet to the taste?

Did it warm you
     like blankets pulled
up each night?

Freedom is so sweet
     it makes me dizzy
sometimes.


Ellen June Wright is an American poet with British and Caribbean roots. Her work has been published in Plume, Tar River, Missouri Review, Verse Daily and the North American Review. She’s a Cave Canem and Hurston/Wright alumna and has received Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations.

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