I have seen her at the Corporation
charm classes leaning how to be
the perfect Company Wife

she relocates every three years
with no complaint
serving the same dry martini
from Denver to Dallas

picking the right mate is important
for a Scottish nobleman
on his way up

the castle is drafty
she has nothing to do
in the afternoons she drinks
and walks the battlements

“why don’t you try to get ahead?”
she nags her husband at night
when he’s trying to go to sleep
“why don’t you try to be somebody for a change?”

“the king in charge
is no smarter than you
why he’s not even really
executive material.”

“play golf with the old man
take him falconing on the moor
invite him back to dinner
and when his back’s turned
we’ll kill him with a butter knife.”

these helpless women
are the most dangerous

“someday,” she tells her husband
sucking the pimento out of an olive,
“someday I will be Queen.”

at night she walks in her sleep
blood on her lips
blood on her hands
her husband takes up more than half the bed

“we’re dividing one life”
she mutters
“we’re dividing one life
and I want all of it.”