September Poem: for Gina Myers

breaking cusps/ break corner

-for Gina Myers

an evening of gathered folds

do you recall how water wanders

you say enough in a poem

& then you have said it

what gets knotted is the straight

way we have of lately

still there are mornings of repeat

what did you want most and won least

botched way of making a family

I would say –there’s no real winning

life but then love spills

think about this time as your own Brontëan moor

it killed all the baby birds because it could

you could find no sheltering storm to home

you hold still like dark

you carry secrets, so many you forget

how to call them

this makes you like everyone

you are a true-to-life death

these dolls need an unboxing

if you make a thing once

you should be able to do it again

but that’s not always the case

I was as life-size as I could be

when a one-year old is gunned down

on the streets of New Orleans

what choice do you have

9.3.13

Megan Burns