Not a CHEAT to stand
In the SHAPE made
By the SHADE and
SHARE a game of boules
No SHAME in taking
A moment to SHAKE
Off the gloom and
To SHAVE off bits of stress
With casual, easy play
The very definition
Of camaraderie

Georg’ann

At first it was an isolated incident
here or there something lost
or forgotten, then more frequently.
Eventually DAILY occurrences
of mind slippage, our phrase
for the indicators of her disappearance.
She’d ask me questions
like “didn’t I want children”
as my daughter sat at the table with us.

STARE into SPACE, vacant.
Then randomly start to narrative tales
about the SAUVE man she met
that time on the boat to Catalina.
Or how her best friend in high school
asked to SHAVE her legs.
There was no way to tell
what wires were crossed,
reminiscence or dreamscape.

My father would say,
“the fact of these facts matters very little.
It’s the possibility of these facts –
that’s what intrigues me.”
We tried to tolerate her disappearance
by embracing the possibility
of meeting a woman we never knew.

Heather