Frugal  

1598, from M.Fr. frugal, from L. frugalis, from undeclined adj. frugi "economical, useful, proper," originally dat. of frux (pl. fruges) "fruit, profit, value," related to fructus evolved in L. from "useful" to "profitable" to "economical."

She cannot spare a glimpse, cannot dance with him under the shuddering moon, will not make his eggs the way he likes them – not anymore. She has darned her last stocking and stands bare in her empty room. The overhead bulb flickers. With one twist it turns off.

He asks where she is now that it is dark and he can't find her. She says nothing. Not even her voice can be spent, though her words hover just at the base of her throat. She can hear them in her head as though they are spoken and she wonders whether she has but thinks not.

In another room the radio is humming between stations. She is between stations.

She only stands to profit by loose change.  

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Cati Porter is editor of Poemeleon: A Journal of Poetry and associate editor for Babel Fruit. She has recent poems in the anthologies Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel -- Second Floor (No Tell Books), White Ink: Poems on Mothers and Motherhood (Demeter Press) and Letters to the World (Red Hen Press), with a chapbook, small fruit songs, forthcoming from Pudding House Publications. Visit her blog at http://catiporter.wordpress.com.
 

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