THREE BY JOAN McNERNEY
Misplaced
Searching for sweet red peppers on sale.
Recalling how my income has fallen.
Touching edges of anxiety
maybe my mind is misplaced or
some new disease invades me.
My caged heart rebels against looming panic.
All those wars...this planet growing
more pustulant as clocks choke forward.
What have I forgotten at the grocery store?
I want to be sure, swift not grasping,
Slivers of black ice can knock me down.
Misplaced, silenced, lost with yesterday’s lists,
mixed among crumpled coupons, long lines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That evening…
after the operation
you delirious
my heart torn apart
wearing robes of despair
o so heavy my desolation.
Walking through town
I pass train stations
where homeless children sleep
...wild flowers plucked
from gardens of grief.
You are conjured up in
my mind as trees draw
your face over tops of trees
blossoms of trees
your fabulous face.
Somehow we must
continue to live
in this mutilated world
but for today how lost
I am without you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Was it worth it all after all?
How many schemes we had.
Such grand ideas!
We'd live off the fat
of the land. Just put
your finger on an atlas
and start our car rolling.
Then suddenly sickness
the great intruder
snapped it away.
Took all our plans
tearing them to pieces.
Is it worth it all
after all…all the struggle
when it all turns to
dust all after all?
Is that the same God
who put you in a coma?
Is that the same God
who forms the flowers?