Saturday, April 21, 2012

Red Kitchen Nun


Why did you always say:
When I die, you’ll get all this jewelry

Why did you always say it so gaily?
Like it was something I was looking forward to.

As if the smashed bridge
The crusted-over chasm
Between you and I
Could at last be simply skipped over once
there were stones dangling from my earlobes and
Pearls dripping from my collarbone

As if the jewels blistering my knuckles
And the clasps safely buttoned over my breast could
Come to represent some real alliance between us

Beautiful
They replace the spirit you could never share
And are daily, eye-catching reminders of
What I have never known from you