for joan simmons
we shared a Southern California sky from opposite sides of the city
the lies of our lives hidden beneath play
i wonder now if our reverie didn’t meet
in that place no one dare name
if you saw my wicked dance with death
took his seduction as your own
i ask myself
what did we talk about how did we meet why did we drift apart
how did i come to learn of your fate so long past?
we splashed about in the same fickle currents
yet i emerged and you went under
i imagine you like Woolf, slowly and with purpose
walking into the water
but i know you chose a gun instead
leaving others to pick up the pieces
no doubt about their trigger fingers
• • • •
Published in Magee Park Poets Anthology, 2015
Family snapshot of Cheryl and Joan