The Innisfree Poetry Journal www.innisfreepoetry.org by Kathryn Jacobs WHEN EXPLANATIONS DON'T HELP (in memory of Raymond) It's hard to live with someone you can't see. Like living with a ghost: you learn the rules, but it's another thing entirely to follow them. For instance, swallow tails: elongated and slim, like scissors in a surgeon's hand. Until you see one fly: two tails, one body. Naturally you spin about to point . . . and jerk, and stop, and try to look as though you didn't. People stare, or glance behind you quickly, and away, because you clearly saw somebody there, and crazies make them nervous. You could say you used to know someone who used to care, and birds make you forget, but . . . that's okay. Copyright 2006-2012 by Cook Communication |