This Threshold He Did Not Carry Her Across – Cindy Veach

Evil spirits, in a last-ditch effort to curse the couple, hovered at the threshold,

so the bride had to be lifted to ensure that the spirits couldn’t enter her body

through the soles of her feet.

—theknot.com

Not literal this threshold, two parts wild animal—

something to be wrangled with—one part fir,

smattered with dents, and she a sucker

for first impressions, let him break her

hymen, spooling blood, the only one. Fir,

a soft wood, pale yellow, some would say

wan, the grain and knots right at the surface,

ill-suited for the soles of shoes coming

and going, mostly the cursed going.