Poem: "Portrait with Blue Shirt"

Valerie Mendelson, 2012

Portrait with Blue Shirt 

Alert, open,
the face has not
yet learned
to protect its look
from the world.

A sharp blow
—losing a foot
or acquiring
an incurable
failure—
will close it.

The face knows
its luck
will not hold.
It waits
for fate’s knuckles

but is not
ready (it is
a young face)
for the
slow crack
of age.