Shay Cook
Window Watching
Some winter evenings when I wander down
the sidewalk in the dark waiting for Lucy
to do her business while minding my own,
my breath cutting through the cold, wet air
like ice, I find myself stealing glimpses into
windows that sit alongside the avenue or across
an overgrown garden, a white brick bungalow
flanked by winter-gray shutters, one lonely
lamp glowing from inside like a lighthouse
beacon guiding my curious eyes beyond
slightly open curtains where just behind them
silhouettes of people cast their shadows
prodding me to look inside and I do at the idea
of suggestions, peering into someone else's life
besides my own, a breath of breeze egging me
on, pulling me away from myself if only for a moment.
Bio
Shay Cook earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from National University and a Bachelor's in English from the University of Phoenix. She is the Winner of the Hillsborough County Lit Wit Poetry Contest, Winner of the Tampa Tribune Letter of the Day, and author of a collected work of poems entitled "Black Silk." Recently published poems include Denial (Silver Birch Press), Early Riser (The GNU Journal), Playing Dress Up (Mother's Always Write Magazine), Bird Feeding (Entropy Magazine), and The Problem with Getting Flowers (The Narcissist Playbook). Shay's writings have been published in national publications, small presses, and e-zines. She says her creative process involves showing up at her desk as often as possible to write because she doesn't like to keep creativity waiting. Shay makes her home in beautiful Lakeland, Florida where in her spare time, she hosts creative writing workshops and poetry readings.