1499W

Theresa always

knocked twice on wood doors.

We dug mud out of

martini glasses

our glasses dark and warm.

Theresa trained two

parrots

to follow us around

saying

“I’ll be in love with you

for a while,”

a trick of the light

making us feel

a little

saner

after her loss.

And it’s true

nobody loved her

like we did.

Even when her father

slid his eyes across the table

peeking from a brown envelope

we knew

our eyes were the only to see

her truly. And what a term of

largess and grandiosity - “truly.”

But were we at fault, too,

dressed in green and proud

of our time jumping shells

at Lake Eerie?

I’m sure.

Theresa hated the water

and we loved her hate

laughing at the way

her skin shivered in brackish or

blue cold water.

In the end,

Theresa,

we wanted to give you

what you wanted

and scattered you

deep in the desert.

So dry we salvaged our tears

stored them in martini glasses

filled with sand

and hoped

it meant something.

Good god.

I hope it meant something.