Poem 9

Continuing the calendar theme, a poem written in the pivot month … January traditionally represents the god looking both forward and back but for me June carries as strong or a stronger sense of being suspended between past and future …

… Rebecca’s no longer with us (having experienced altogether too much of the tired flesh) but the shape she made remains … love a tiny town somewhere out there … yes indeed …

( the purple house of grief is an image that has always resonated with me … )

June

How the time blows
June is here with its prickle of first days
and already it's a year since Rebecca's boyfriends
offed themselves 
                                two slips of young
and tired flesh out under the filing cabinet
of shocking wet lawn

Rebecca has trouble swallowing death
she's never been so successfully upstaged
June: now we make big plans
and look back
trapped hurtling in the reckless ambulance
window shopping for injuries
the purple house of grief
                                             sky
like a blue sandwich
love a tiny town somewhere out there
you in my dream saying cold warm
cold again
June that could go either way
June my mother's name