Sometimes I wonder
if she ever existed.
—found poem
Sometimes I wonder
if she ever existed.
Only a smile now
a gesture
copper hair flashing
she fades even in dreams
phases out
of memory the way she did
returning to Toronto
waving from the car
but turning away tearful after
the driveway like
Pleiades glowing in the night sky
bringing hope and humour
taking—what?
—from us
to that soft receding world
where sisters are strangers
and laughter just an echo
and galaxies are reflections
of loss
That day she couldn’t make change
coins dropped from her fingers
like memories forgotten after sunset
when stars obsessed the sky
and she started smiling
at something whispered
from another destination
just past her shoulder
a familiar gesture
for some of us
She could not comprehend
the loudest of our arguments
for delay
but left impromptu
Nebulae dim near the horizon
we return to our darkening homes
This is a revision of a poem I posted in April 2008.
[podcast]http://riverwriter.ca/podcast/Sometimes_I_wonder.mp3[/podcast]
The hole
With autumn rains coming, I wonder when Pitt Street or Fourth Street (or both) will slide into here. Work on the site seems to have stopped. That’s Pitt Street in the background, across from City Hall.
Corner of Pitt and Fourth, Cornwall Ontario