Tuesday, June 24, 2003

gradation

i look back;
i am not the same.
a patchwork girl
pieced by time and by pain
ended; begun.
all these photographs i thumb
the memories locked away
in a receding wave;
memory as an ill tide.
the girl in these images
is not me.
she smiles and my mouth moves
in memory,
but no more
do i claim those freckles,
the sinuous curve of lashes and brow.
i am little more than mist
following images of home.
i sit
mailing envelopes full of
good news and cheer
announcing dates that seem
mere fantasy.
i fold them inside them
images of a girl
i do not recognize.

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