Why Toothbrush Holders Move

Teresa
Gila
Margaret
Annie
Regina
Barbul
Renata

Some were tall
Others short
I think at least 2 were left-handed
Most spoke German
Most loved me

All were mother to me
All left

Tissue

Reflections
Schooled by past infections

Scars imitate
Emotions

Smiles that don’t quite reach the eyes
Eyes that do not match the lip’s devotions

Laughs that seem contrived

In one
Aged five

Dust Proof

The couch
Covered
Saved for

Special

But cushions
Unstained
Dimple with time
Sun-faded colors
And quiet dust
Mark passage

Of
A failed premise

Insistence that the cure for
Vita Brevis
Is deferred existence

Proof
The reminiscence
The too too late discovery
That

Now
Was

         Special

Take Care

This is how I take care of myself

I like sand between my toes
That somehow knows
Where to go

But it forgets to stay behind
And fills my socks with grittiness

Warm, warm, warm
But not too warm
And moisturizer if it’s peach and therefore not greasy

Self care sounds like a supermarket buggy
That you use to help yourself to
Beans
And soft cheese
And flowers
And sometimes cat food
To care for your self and your cat

I don’t know how self-care works
It’s not a switch I can turn off
It’s not a room I can step outside of
It’s not an old photograph
It’s not a book that someone else wrote

So I don’t understand it
But it doesn’t seem to matter

Holding Hands

You wouldn’t hold my hand
I sensed – Not saw – Your
Creased Forehead
Deduced from the set of your Jaw
Saw
The nape of your
Neck and the bravery of your shoulders
That refused to cry

I was wrong

So unforgivable
That my memory
Has saved me from the details

We walked beside each other
And realized that the pace was wrong
I had a limp
Caused by the lost counterweight
Of your hand in mine

I crooked a finger in your belt loop
Swung in time with your angry hips

Unconvincingly you tried
To brush me away
Instead our palms nested in each other
Followed through
Lock-step
In-stride

Our bodies didn’t hide
But forced a grudging confession
Or our mutual need

And therefore
Perhaps
Our love