tough little rind with a
long ponytail and an inventive
mind – memory persists of the
young woman he brought to
our shared summer house, picked
her up somewhere in the
Southwest, silent one with lush
dark hair, a sleeping bag
and scabies, profound presence
of a gypsy in our midst
her Tarot reading 1978 – those
two leopards guided me for
years, and now that she’s
moved from Shasta to
Vermont I am oh so tempted
to travel north to visit
and once again gain access
to her visionary giftedness,
maybe sit briefly under the shower
of her stars, photos, philosophy
connoisseur of goods – vacation travel,
food and wine, kitchen wares,
electronics like cameras and TVs,
sporting goods like bikes and
boats and skis – how do
you tell if something’s good
unless it’s rated well? – with
an exception for lucky friends
and family members that bask
unrated in his luxurious concern
they said she couldn’t take
care of herself, young girl
apparently knew nothing about
her period and what it meant –
what she needed to do
to take care of herself
was not explained with any
care to her – she must
have suffered – even care of
self requires some joint effort
triplets I played with in
3rd grade gosh they were
so interesting I can still
see their faces clearly (dianne
wore glasses) I asked them
to come over after school
but for some reason they
never showed although I waited
hours in the backyard for
them they were elusive pixies
no use wishing for a
time machine – I’d like to
think I’d do it differently –
tell her how much I
like her artwork, join her
and denise in easy laughter,
humbly ask her help with
any little dormitory incident,
talk, explore our differences,
work it out, not run away
fairy princess with a fear
of spiders, otherwise all’s well
growing up with many friends
and cousins, school, sports, summers –
you should see her playroom
and her poodle! – just make
sure she gets dessert after
every meal and does her
reading, and she’ll take care
of every other little detail