Shiva

 

23 November 2021

The shift of tenses

“Her avocation chemo”

Didn’t want to quit

Violence in the verbs

“She wanted to drift away”

Not to want again

Won’t want  can’t want  want

Not in death  verbs stop working

Retire to watch sun

Rise and fall  “she was

A terrible steersman great

Stroker”  loved shoulder

Muscles (about which

None of her wry ironies)

I would want to hear

Those again  sonic

Waves of “I don’t want to talk

About it” with her

Constant querying

Affective shadow boxing

“You want me to lie?”

Hitchhiked Austria

At 17  not to have

Parents frees you to

Fear their past exile

Terrorized by audience

Pretend they’re not there

We both forgot what

We read  read it again like

Time didn’t unspool

Banana peels stuck

To the cement of foreign

City streets  she could

Breathe from belly to

Chest  connect heart to shoulder

Hour glass over.