26

Every year my mother and father
would plant bulbs
in the rotting air of fall
on edge with the pachysandra.

Today the yellow flowers
reveal a topographical map of
our settlement as the
pachysandra spreads.

It is coming towards the house.
My father wants to put
an end to planting.
The deer do not eat daffodils.

My mother plants them in the chilled ground, regardless,
marking our time like lines on a wall.
-Hannah



Day upon day
adds up to years
which then add up
to make a life

Some days are filled
with more than we
need, sometimes good
other times bad

This past Sunday
adjustments were
made, plans altered
only to wait

another day
still no answer
-KM

25

In 1965 my mother was fourteen

and her mother was taking

independent study with a young professor

at Goddard:

John Keats

Marshall McLuhan

Quantum Physics

Middle Ages

On a Friday night at his house

he steamed an entire cauliflower

covered it in melted yellow cheddar cheese.

Played the songs of Leonard Cohen.

After clearing the table he kissed

my mother in the hall.

-Hannah

Grandparents

Days spent indoors
Moving from room to room
The excitement all gone
Feeling buried alive

Relinquish passion to weariness
The small things add up
Little by little they stacked up high
Slowly deciding to check yourself in

Extreme measures don't count for much
Involuntary motions cannot be forced
A machine-produced inhalation is not a breath
How selfish it was to make you stay

There really is no reason to keep going
If you do not want to

-KM

24

For Lily

As a baby, Lily was soft and small
Cruelly tortured from the inside out
Revealed only when mites broke through the skin's wall
So gentle, so small, calm despite the pain

Poked and prodded, poor Lily had no peace
These wounds refreshed to prolong Lily's life
Cuts were opened and reopened for weeks
Fighting an invisible enemy

Later cut to pieces through surgery
Lily was so young, had to fight so much
Only familiar with illness, instinct
Rules (life with pain is better than no life)

With time, Lily did grow strong and healthy
Then allergies arose: so long Lily!
-KM

When I was young we
lived in the trailer on the end
of old branch road with
plastic pink flamingos

my mother would put me in a
styrofoam cooler
with the bunnies and they would
cross over my body.

Later, as a teenager I had a
black rabbit with soft ears that
fell around his eyes.
He would nibble my wet hair.

My second shadow, making a halo
in small brown poop around my feet.
-Hannah

23

Last year,

the snow was up to my knees

covered in glassy ice

so my shins would hurt when walking.

This year there was winter for one week

bitter cold and snow that didn’t stay.

In 1995, snow covered my whole body

and we traveled to school through a white tunnel.

We were warned not to hide

in the dirty snow at the end of roads.

The snow plow would not be forgiving

on our young plaster bones.

Every year, bulbs would multiply,

cropped up in yellowed grass and acidic leaves.

-Hannah

Turn water on before undressing
Allowing time for it to heat up
Inspecting for signs of age
While the toothbrush makes its rounds

Now step into the water
Just too hot to be comfortable
Every few minutes step out of its drizzle
To give the skin a rest

The palm of the hand cradles soap
Its like liquid pearls, closer in appearance
To the creature that produces the shiny globe
With eyes closed dig fingers into hair

Towel dangles from its hook, air drying
The smell of soap lingers in its fibers

-KM