Midnight in the Trees

On crooked limb he crouches,
delaying dare
savoring expectation
launching forth—he leaps!
Gambling with gravity,
he brushes against velvet sky
tumbles down in somersaults
landing silent upon slick grass
with carefree flair.
He prowls through drowsy streets,
stalks elusive shadows,
lounges on back porches where
many keep food to claim him.
Disappears with night
leaving paw prints on windshields,
shed black fur
on white wicker chairs.

**

April Sorrow

One word.
Where feeling becomes reality.
A single tragedy—
hole that engulfs my soul.
Composition of face and hands lost.
The cycle incomplete:
arms left empty.
Grief
fills the open spaces; crowds out the sun.
I broke it off the sky and swallowed more
than I could hold—everything
tasting of salt. Tears won’t be enough
after it destroys the flower and exposes the dust
what is left?
In your photograph
you wore a hospital cap like the others.
I gave you my grandfather’s name.
They put a white rose on my door
to show you were gone.
I waited through long hours and strangers’ visits
for your father to come.

**

Order of the Dress

Others wore the dress
before me. In photos stare
with hollow dare of eyes,
display raw-boned frames.
Determined
it would love me best.
Vowed to follow
requirements, adjust
to measurements.
Put on the dress,
fought against flesh,
formed
layer of skin.
Owned me.
Conformed to the contour
of its mold.
Made enemies, my family
lectures on
what they do not know.
My progress translates
into their pain.
Dispute against me;
I turn away.
Let the telephone ring
I won’t answer.
All time spent
adhering to measurements
the dress dictates.
I serve a strict master.
Makes demands with
constraining hand.
Rules more rigid now;
flesh subsides to bone.
Its made me
who I am
diminished
by each pound.
A voice inside warns:
Gone too far.
Puts chaos
into order.
I won’t listen.
I wake inside
a white world
consigned to
needles and tubes.
Diverted
from my course.
No one sees;
came so close.
This time
the dress
almost fit.