48

On autumn nights walking on broken slate sidewalks
Graceland: we planned
Our words, quiet, transformed pools of streetlight
Into Memphis skylines

Through the winter, we talked of it, we longed for it as we ran away from our house
The word took on a different meaning
No longer a place
But a feeling of strength, of sanctity

It grew almost magical
A childish way to look at the world
But I loved it
I'm not even sure where it is Tennessee
After all this time, still I've never looked at it on a map


Graceland: a roadtrip never taken

I still want you to go with me
-KM

In a dusty backyard in Queens there is a dog
named Daisey who sleeps with her head
on a rock and has glazey red eyes.
Around her people are reliving the past

in their mother's halter tops.So,
I didn't go upstate, I stayed here with
you. I ate two deviled eggs and
a hot dog made of tofu.

The whole week pressure of the 1960s
built-up in my back and I couldn't sleep
at night. I wore a brown head scarf tied
in a bow. Daisey was at everyone's feet.

-Hannah

47

There is a long green vein
Meandering just beneath thin skin
On the outside
Of my right thigh

I study its twists and turns
Wondering will it grow weaker?
Will my legs bulge under stress,
Transforming into a topographical map?

I think of mom when I was ten,
She was out in the back
On the second floor I heard her voice
Asking me to call for help

Her mountainous veins had caught a nail
She asked for a bandage, not realizing
Her shoe had already filled with blood
She was hemorhagging

No one answered when I called
I panicked, with shaking hands
I brought her an old towel
My dog licked at the puddle of blood

We piled into the car, nervous, silent
With her leg resting in the passenger seat
She backed the car out of the driveway
We didn't say a word

We picked our sister up from school,
Then we drove to the hospital
Another mother from the school followed us there
She took us to her house and gave us cookies, she didn't say much

Mom rarely ever wore shorts after that
-KM

In the past the balance
has been thrown
like a horse in a western movie,
the kind that just won't quit,

It rained like
we were at the ocean and
following day it was breezy
and cool.

It will come back
and everything
that is important will find its
own place.

Let's get going.
Let's get gone. 
-Hannah

46

A weekend of waking
next to you
to sit at the
breakfast table.

and at the beach
by many others.
In the ocean
there are big waves

Fleshy sea weeds
in your pockets.
We collect sunshine
and then go home.

One night without you
in our room.
-Hannah


3am:
My name stirs
Me from sleep
We must leave now

By 4 blood
Was drawn
Filling three capsules
Lungs tightened

An old woman
Moaned in Catonese
Over and over again
You slept for ten minutes

The sour smell of illness vs. sterility
Clung to our clothes
-KM

45

I only knew you four of
Twelve years
Found on spoiled raviolis
As wild as ever

For a week you were mine
And in the snow we walked
Searching for a reason
Missing the same people

My foot was bleeding and you
With your easy smile
Licked me clean, as happy as ever
I went to my room and cried

I dreaded the day you'd leave this place
Foolish, I missed the day, now you're gone
-KM

When we passed the great swamp,
I noticed. My dad picked us up in
a gray station wagon with socks
in the back seat.

Out the window the mountains
continue to exist and later in the
black four-door sedan Samson
makes a joke about hiking on the AT.

As a young girl I lived in open space
and now when you and I are together
in the field of purple loose strife and golden rod
I take a photograph.

For when we are back in between
the buildings in the place where you can make it. 
-Hannah