Blue Nightgown

Let’s not skip ahead    to the blue nightgown   
or how the girl may have seen    the woman who wore it   
ghosting next to the lamppost    we don’t need to talk
about the other woman   because at this point in the story  
she didn’t exist    it doesn’t matter that the girl may have seen her  
that it might have happened    that afternoon   or one exactly like it  
I know you want to know    if the father was there
but it’s impossible to know   no one remembers  
and even if he was there    even if he walked past the window  
he wouldn’t have seen    the ghost-woman
drifting in the snow   her blue nightgown trailing behind her

 

Snow Globe

Does snow have a scent    does cold have a voice   
what happens when a girl    stands in the middle of a snowy world   
children spinning around her    is this when she tastes
what it means to be entirely alone    what did that feel like  
against her legs    a reddening    where the top edge of her boot
met the frozen ground    redness that could have spilled its guts   
all over this December afternoon    first snow of the season   
the first time you bleed    you want to tell your mother   
but maybe you can’t find her    maybe the idea of mother   
gets flushed down the frozen pipes    with that first swirl of blood   
this is when the girl    begins to have her visions   
when she realizes    she can’t get out    snow up to her knees   
her thighs    up up up    when she wishes there was a god
who would wrap his giant paw    around the snow globe
of this winter afternoon    and shake