don’t remember much of what
I learned in college but
from her I do remember this:
what anorexia looks like;
I didn’t know the word,
just marveled at the severity
of her thinness, her meals
of lettuce, cottage cheese –
this was all just odd until
another named it a disorder

things got harder than expected –
her grandmother passed away, protective
barriers fell, exposed her to
demands from higher-up’s – with tears
in her eyes (green pools)
and newly pretty lips (scar
sanded out with plastic surgery)
she reached new harbor safely –
do things get any easier
as wife and mother now?