<div class="line">The rain showers won’t stop returning,</div>
<div class="line">as if someone needs to make a decision.</div>
<div class="line">Haggard doves and delivery vans</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">prowl around morning’s scene</div>
<div class="line">of general disaster. At the café</div>
<div class="line">we don’t really pay attention,</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">we are reading the East Bay Living section,</div>
<div class="line">the comics, the reviews, the April travel</div>
<div class="line">ads. Every now and then</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">one person looks up,</div>
<div class="line">and down. We all think</div>
<div class="line">we are in the same lifeboat. And we don’t</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">delude ourselves lightly—</div>
<div class="line">we go about it with the same care you take</div>
<div class="line">with newborns, with pastries,</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">with the Christmas present you unwrapped</div>
<div class="line">once, in the middle of the night, underneath the tree,</div>
<div class="line">knowing too much to sleep,</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">a longer distance ahead,</div>
<div class="line">love oddly steadier for the disappointment,</div>
<div class="line">and hope only slightly blemished.</div>


You’re Bound to See Someone You Know at Walmart

Letter to the Ministry of Loneliness

Repair

<div class="line">These are my last wishes:</div>
<div class="line">to lie beneath the rosemary,</div>
<div class="line">the scrubby kind, used for hedging</div>
<div class="line">municipal buildings, shelter</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">to rats and trash.</div>
<div class="line">It smells good,</div>
<div class="line">it’s cheap, it blooms,</div>
<div class="line">you hack it back</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">when it gets too big.</div>
<div class="line">For some reason</div>
<div class="line">they never remove it, when it’s obvious</div>
<div class="line">they should, and replant.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">Lying there, who would notice</div>
<div class="line">me listening:</div>
<div class="line">the boys scheming</div>
<div class="line">to hop the fence but not doing it;</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">the couple not quite yet a couple, at least</div>
<div class="line">they don’t think so.</div>
<div class="line">They talk about their week.</div>
<div class="line">Who else would care, with such</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">obvious delight</div>
<div class="line">about such crap? They are in love.</div>
<div class="line">So is the dog</div>
<div class="line">with the girl, who calls him</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">and he comes. And she throws it</div>
<div class="line">and he goes.</div>
<div class="line">The girl, last week, stole</div>
<div class="line">a stuffed animal from the library.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">She doesn’t know it was stealing.</div>
<div class="line">It stays with her in sleep and smells,</div>
<div class="line">now, like her most intimate self.</div>
<div class="line">It is comfort and conscience, her heart</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">displayed so brazenly,</div>
<div class="line">no one would dare think of it.</div>
<div class="line">In twenty years, its memory</div>
<div class="line">will roll up in her gut</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">like a stone long formed—</div>
<div class="line">and this is how she will learn</div>
<div class="line">to forgive herself,</div>
<div class="line">and to treasure human error.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">Now her sneakers shush</div>
<div class="line">across the concrete, warm</div>
<div class="line">August air laps against her ankles.</div>
<div class="line">The dog is still going at it,</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">his ears flop</div>
<div class="line">in rhythm with her breath.</div>
<div class="line">My last wish</div>
<div class="line">is to be that.</div>


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December 25, 2018RepairNina Lindsay

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December 25, 2018RepairNina Lindsay

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In the End by Nina Lindsay