Truth or Dare

Truth or Dare

One winter we three   

gathered together to ride

imaginary Palominos’

as if we could be Cher

on that half breed album.

We wanted to be anything

other than who we were.

Outside heavy snow fell  

as we cursed the locked

door while our mother   

was out all night playing

cards she said, smoking   

menthol's at the table

the next morning.

We had our own lies too.

Bad boys had smart mouths,

fast hands and tongues.

We played tough tacks and

learned to lean back 

against the wall, unbutton

our white blouses

after losing a game of

truth or dare.

Mother’s sharp red nails

were a grave warning.

Her scowl said not to

give into lust before

marriage because we

would be an entirely

different breed of girls.

Susan Sanders

My poems have appeared in Flying Horse, Soapbox, The Vermont Literary Review,

Common Ground Review, The Lucid Stone, Moon Rising, Falling Star Magazine and

several others. Susan Sanders teaches writing classes in addition to writing poetry and fiction.

She lives 5 miles from the Canadian border and seeks inspiration from reading and walking

near rivers. Her book Behind These Hills (co-authored post-posthumously)

with her daughter Jessica Sicely is available on amazon. com.