mama wore once, all blue summer long, turning to stars above the lawns of God.
3 september 2016
THE KINGDOM OF MARASCHINOS
o do you remember the kingdom of maraschinos and you in red velveteen
practicing for the recitals the waltzes from the south? and the roses outside
seemed complicit and music lit from within like opals, measure to measure.
I remember this, I think to myself on the bus, the houses with a thousand windows
flashing by, bequeathed with too many wreaths. and it is Christmastime
and I remember the kingdom of maraschinos; the light in the skies
above our childhoods, cherry-wise. 20 august 2016
TO SHARON F. DOUGLAS, MY SISTER
is heaven the marriage of white and gold; the pristine prisms shimmering at the windows; the slow cadence of silence-