The Shine Journal

Cleo

by

Nulty Lynch

Egyptian eyes, lined as black
as tattoos, extend beyond lashes
impossibly long for a Monday morning.
They bat at no one in particular, you
have eyes only for your DayPlanner.
Figuring which bills to pay, who can
be put off just a little longer.
Since moving out of your boyfriend’s
place (who necessitated the purchase
of the oversized mirrored sunglasses
to avoid the inevitable questions)
a little must go further. Yet you smile
each morning, painting the eyeliner like
Cleopatra, framing your green eyes,
showing them off, no longer black and blue

Bio: NULTY LYNCH is a husband, father, poet and fly-fisherman.  Not usually all at once, or in that order. He lives in Laurel, Maryland with his wife, two daughters and two dogs.  He works for a financial research bureau in Washington D.C. and spends his train commute writing & staring out the window. He has most recently been published in Shoots and Vines and Modern English Tanka, and will be published in an upcoming issues of The Stray Branch and Yellow Mama.

Motivation: My work, as a whole is primarily motivated by my daily travels by both commuter rail and subway.  I see people and events and flesh them out.  It is both a way to internalize the external and unabashed voyeurism.