Light lilac dress for the opera a tongue kiss
you called twice next morning

Lobsters bristling on our plates glass-ceilinged
Bateau Mouche down the Seine I smile up at
you a slight sneer in your eyes greets the camera

Lost in the blizzard I clutched our baby boy
curled in his bunting older boy locked onto your
hand your voice boomed like a searchlight
through my blindness

In our bird rich woods you imitating the
cardinal’s macho whistle I’m an organ playing
the very‘s sad descending scales

Your fist hammering the table in restaurants
pleading with you to lower your voice
“So What That You Feel Embarrassed!”

Staccato of insults from both sides my cheeks and neck a rogue blaze
harangue jerking in the air like a hanged man the children knew they knew
tense sentries on the stairs

Surprise ice storm in Austrian Alps not daring to
peer down from thin height inching across the
glassy ledge later in the hut we huddled like icicles

Your hands clutching my neck arrange jade discs
on a silver cord reparation for our clenched-jaw
drives home after dinner parties

Burgundy on our bedside table sipping to sleep
I stuffed whimpers in my pillow
I wheedled in my nightgown on my knees

Haze of spring the day I left waiting by the car as
though you would help with the bags