How the women in my life refuse
my embrace!
No—
I refuse
to allow the possibility.
Pearl and Rhonda—I owe Pearl a message.
I played songs for two hours with Rhonda last night.
Didn’t we almost have it all?
as they say.
No—
I refuse
to allow the possibility.
Pearl and Rhonda—I owe Pearl a message.
I played songs for two hours with Rhonda last night.
Didn’t we almost have it all?
as they say.
River’s mannequin girl.
She told me her name—Penelope.
Emmy-Lou silver braids under leather cowboy hat
across Indian-weave shoulders,
closed blue-shadowed eyes, black lashes,
full red lipstick,
red-scarf-wrapped neck.
Beautiful River in her house of art
in Stillwater.
She told me her name—Penelope.
Emmy-Lou silver braids under leather cowboy hat
across Indian-weave shoulders,
closed blue-shadowed eyes, black lashes,
full red lipstick,
red-scarf-wrapped neck.
Beautiful River in her house of art
in Stillwater.
How deeply I respond to the
women in my life!
Whomever else I was going mention.
The happiness of sleeping with
my lost sister Carol in the room with me
when I was eight and spending the summer with my grandparents in Illinois.
when I was eight and spending the summer with my grandparents in Illinois.
That girl the year before, when
I was lying in a hospital bed with rheumatic fever,
running up to my bed and kissing me unawares.
running up to my bed and kissing me unawares.
Ache of another’s love that I
don’t know how to return.
don’t know how to return.
Maybe I should give all these
women pseudonyms,
so I won’t embarrass them.
Didn’t so I won’t embarrass them.
we almost have it all
every single moment of my life?
