The Unlikely Lovers

Appointment

into the
world
she ran
blue girl
blue day

nine nurses burning
on a California bridge

incendiary

passersby
filmed death
on their cell phones
and drove away alive

three women held captive for ten years

no one noticed
everyone cared

I hold my fear
in my hand
life a flower

it blooms
in the bright
light of day

lives that
could have
been so different
if they had not lived
laughing and crying
every minute
every hour
every day

I am not afraid of love
it is afraid of me
it cowers on a San Mateo bridge
in an Ohio basement
women who were loved
stolen from their lives
held captive
set on fire
and made famous
by our curiosity

Empty Vase Painted On An IPHONE

Mourning

you make dinner
you wash the dishes
you set the clock
you lock the door
you go to bed

this is all about being alive
the small gestures
the unconscious acts
the slow forgetting

someone you love has died

when will love return
do you miss it more
than you miss him

even the birds are
silent in this mourning

you listen for their song

suddenly the sun

Hummingbird

The Accident

It did not belong to her,
it was not her memory;
yet, she remembers the
day–the white church with
the green roof, the sun hot
on her face, her mother and sister
lingering on the church steps,
the priest surrounded by young girls
and then the sound.

They all turned their heads,
one head on one neck,
twisting muscle, grinding bone,
turning, turning toward the sound.

It was before air bags,
before seat belts,
before soft metals
and rubber bumpers–
everything was hard.

It did not belong to her;
it was not her memory;
but she remembers–
the doors snapping open,
three white birds falling
to the ground, the open
mouth of her mother,
the blue eyes of the priest,
the smell of jasmine and incense,
a young girl screaming
and, then, silence.

Communion Girl

The Lonely Geisha

The Moon in the Moon

The Lovelorn Lake