

VirginiaThe Coming and Going of Virginia LarzelereVirginia
[In 1991, Virginia Larzelere's third husband, a wealthy dentist, was shot and killed in his office by a masked man while his wife was in a room down the hall. Theory (or rumor) has it that the gunman was the Larzelere's son, seduced and hired by his own mother.]
You were right, Virginia. It's Love, that all-powerful vice,
that fixes all! Settle down with your well-intentioned dentist: Settle down, make homes for sons. No, no, you are no femme fatale, Just the luckiest of mothers.
Few children have the gift of a mother &n


ArithmeticI.Arithmetic
this is what i know: that one of us is gone. he took his air so coolly
that we hardly felt the vacuum. in his dusty parlor our misplaced faces fade into felt hats;
fingerprints like saccharine melt into limp lethargic coffee; margarine on noon toast.
II.
in the same scene it was you in my reflection, a ghost at my elbow or i, a ghost at yours:
i, the eldest son or you, the youngest daughter, in the doorway in your father's hat and coat.
III.
one gone, i still saw thre


Pantoum at the PondWhen the rain started I asked her if We should go inside: No, she said.Pantoum at the Pond
I asked her if
She didn't mind the rain: No, she said, We were wet already.
She didn't mind the rain, But we should have gone inside. We were wet anyway When the rain started.


The Names: a GhazalTwice, a bell rang: Neither time was it my name.The Names: a Ghazal
Half a day of capillary-popping strain, a mother spits; A tooth, blood, a name.
Shook in a leather pouch, tossed to packed dirt, The bones spelled out a name.
At God's bidding, we burned The shrines, but kept the names.
All heroes fade to men or graves. Crosby : Ungodded, it is a name.

Your HouseMy desperate plea to lift tiny curtains Not quite skirts, some mere decorations, But more like walls, defensive and grim (Or shrouds! concealing death) You let hang under your couch- Hiding your holes Out of siteYour House
And sight of the light of day.
Stretched and twined
Into your deep, collapsing shadows
I'll cry for you- (So one day you won't have to) And except (accept) the shameful [-sweet-] sides
Of your soul.
As a quiet mouse in such Secret sanctum I will carve. (In my mind) On my eyes
Every curving grainy slice


White BlanketsYou were looking for playmates, and the scaffolding looked like a playground. You slid down the pole until you thought it ended, but it kept going, clear poles down under the city until you're flopped down in the snow and you don't know which way is up.White Blankets
We went looking for you where there were no candy canes.
In the winter, in the snow, searching the scaffolding for the body of a lost child, we find a deranged toyland where you could freeze to death before realizing you were cold. Like cold was a concept you couldn't wrap your head around until death came and wrapped yo
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