415

You can sit down in a clearing
with your head sticks out over the trees

I can watch you from the top of a hill
so far that I can't hear you swat down a plane,
just watch like watching a storm from inside.

Then in a step you can reach out your hand
and pluck me off from where
I stand and put me on your shoulder, sitting
back down on the ground.

414

No one is a reason for her swollen arms.
They do their jobs all day,
stopping only to eat at the cheapest place

She floats above crowded streets,
her feet grazing heads,
but she didn't come thinking that she'd need help

413

Your spine uncurled to line up
with the back of your chair,
surrounded by air, I clung on
to my own arms.

No one asked me if I wanted
pictured of burnt faces from your
mantelpiece to hold so you could
sit comfortably in your living room.

412

If I make you marry a doctor
because he makes more money than me
and I say you deserve for your kids to be
as well dressed as you'd always dreamed,

don't find me on a dim morning
to try to wonder with me.

I know I could have had you
every sunrise if I wanted to.

411

Medicine was never my first thought
when you climbed out the window
ans my stomach ached.

Who else would need the way
you'd lean over the bed
in the mornings, already clean,
and wake me with the weight
of your palms on the mattress?

410

Just because you'd always
wear your tie to go fishing
and make me repeat why
each time your patted me on the back

Just because you'd bring your briefcase
when you took me for a hike
and had me hold it when you
laced your shoes so it never hit the ground
and made me repeat why
each time you laughed and shook your head

409

They gave me a dog to keep me busy
I raised him best because I had nothing else to do
and no one knew what a good job I did
or that it was as important
as a newborn child,
a deadline and an office party,
the secretary and a new suit