memorial for a brilliant woman

Monday, April 01, 2013

NAPOMO Poem-a-Day April 1

Giving up the ghost 

I saw you in the corner of the room
just yesterday, I was humming a song
we sang a long time ago, how was it
you knew to make an appearance right then?
 
If we’d been that connected at the time
you’d still be here or I’d be there with you,
none of this slow fade to forgetfullness
rising everyday a little dimmer.
 
The face I see in my head is not you,
it’s a photograph from the Facebook page
I memorized before you took it down,
your half-smile my addiction, secret fix.
 
If you quit showing up I can forget
but you’re the shoe sticking out from under
the bed I almost fall on each morning
you always kept me slightly off balance.
 
Even this poem is another way you
intrude unwanted when I was thinking spring,
Easter eggs, taking down storm windows.
It was April, I was playing piano.

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