Oh, Amelia --
Ribbons and silver bells
Seventeen in all,
Ribbons – ribbons for a pretty girl.

Toss your dirty coins and shuck your corn,
Watch the crows take flight over bending fields.
I wonder if you remember
If you remember my scorn
If you remember our time together.
Counting constellations and
Watching weather
Watching seasons ebb and flow.

I’m sorry for killing your cat.
‘She wasn’t good for much anyway,’ you’d say.

And, Amelia,
I saw you down by the wreck
All twisted metal and violin chords
Whispering voices sloughing off my back
Feet like fire
Voices like rust
Brown dogs and silver baboons.

Don’t be bothered with my words
Mix water with wine and pour it over
Calluses and withered swords.

And I can’t remember
Whether it’s winter or spring
Devoid of my brain
Replaced with a shapeless lump of clay
Malleable, fallible,
Cracked and dry and gray as day.

I found you in corners
In hidden basements
In trap doors
In tree tops
Little hearts you’d left behind.
Left for me
For me to be forced to find.