Terese Svoboda
Healing Wind
—that's upwind, where
genealogy has swept its O's
and X's beyond
hugs and kisses.
This week is not
the last, your sister implores.
We stand at the tap, pails
filled, the wind in ruffs
so no reflection
shows. She's not especially
cold but the chill index says it all:
worse than you think.
No one cries.
Why
tempt sisterliness
when there's loss to carry back, lots
of it?
We heft and tuck our heads.
from Treason, Zoo Press, 2002.