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Scorpio Rising (for Sarah)
I see the Norsewoman in you,
a blonde Viking standing firm
on two bare feet, your thin strong
arms picking rough lychees from
a warm tree. Your children cling
to you like moths to a light.
You are their cocoon.
You watch them grow the way
you tend an herb garden, nurturing
without over-watering.
Although your eyes look tired,
at times there is a clarity in them
like cut glass. Fire has recently
reduced your memories to soot
but flames can be cleansing and ashes
spawn new life like crocuses sprouting
through frozen February earth.
Bible Girl (for Sarah's Birthday)
Hey, don't you know you're a girl
from the bible? It all comes back
to me like a photo album.
You and I in a cheerleading disguise,
awkward eyes behind deep, dark glasses.
Your thumbs like candy, stuck in your mouth
until mom shellacked your comfort with an acid
so you'd stop sucking. Did mom know how
you smashed your glasses one night?
Tortoise shell cracked plastic beneath
Your tiny defiant foot.
Ballet in the basement,
you had to be the princess to my prince
only because I was taller.
Barbies and bike rides to get Tangy Taffy
And the nights you said goodnight, goodnight,
goodnight, goodnight. You once had hair
like a lion but now you are a rag doll and I
imagine that pebble nose of yours covered
with sand, riding dolphins like a sea sponge,
your ropey hair floating just like algae.
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