Cathy Bryant - Umbra, Penumbra

Cathy Bryant worked as a life model, civil servant and childminder before becoming a professional writer. She has won 22 literary awards, including the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Prize and the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest, and her work has appeared in over 200 publications. Cathy's books  are 'Contains Strong Language and Scenes of a Sexual Nature' and 'Look at All the Women' (poetry), 'How to Win Writing Competitions' (nonfiction)  and 'Pride & Regicide - a Mary Bennet Mystery' (a novel). See her listings for cash-strapped writers at www.compsandcalls.com , updated on the first of every month. Cathy lives in Cheshire, UK. 

---

​                Umbra, Penumbra
 
Over your face, when you think I’ve lied.
When the day is dying, and mocks the mountain
with a god’s-hand-shadow that dwarfs the peak.
The small flits of people on streets, spit-split,
doing their swish sweep speedwalking
to work, shop, home. Oh, home, the cold dark
stretch of it, waiting and empty. Silent patches
twisting in the garden like arguments,
distorting amiable shrubs into monsters.
No, these dim threats are not what I hoped for,
are not what life should look like.
They have, though, their own beauty, like
the sculpted angles of your face, with its sharp
planes and shadows, when you think I’ve lied.