by EllenMore
Smartly done, imaginative, Ellen. My first thoughts about the stain were brown, but the last two stanzas suggested semen.
My only quibble is "Her fingers twitched out/ignored dialogue as she died" felt clunky to me.
This is demanding - that the reader return to read and re-read. My quibble is at the end. I don't think she needs to die, just be ignored into oblivion. Also consider perhaps omitting 'newer, younger' : the 'only thumbs ' is such a strong statement it doesn't need qualification perhaps.
But just quibbles - good stuff.
The typewriter is a compelling image of one dimensional communication, ie, the husband can choose to read it or not, and more often than not, didn't.
Dialogue on the other hand is an interactive process in which people participate as equals. Perhaps "any effort at dialogue" or no mention of it all would have better characterized the situation.
See. GMT came back for a re-read - so did I. Why do some poems make one do that? This one did and it is worth it.
From the beginning to the end I enjoyed your poem nicely penned.