A snippet of hair and a brittle toenail moon The orange rubber bath toy christened "Mr. D" A little writing table with a hinged lid, its recessed drawer holding comic books and lined paper, plastic tubes of paste A long pillow against which three daughters could lean, each holding a picture book in the morning A red, zippered sweatshirt hoodie that looked reddest against a canvas of green grass at the park The store on the second floor of Mar-Bay selling clothes from Taiwan and Hello Kitty marshmallows Every goat ever tied to the guava tree in the backyard, bleating before the knife and the fire and the feast A wooden ruler and pencil on the piano keyboard waiting for fingers toflayflog The bit of torn newspaper her mother used to cover an evil-looking face in the background of the family picture Missals and rosary beads, shale-colored lace veils The women's collective screaming when the child walked in from the garden with a gash on her forehead The roasted pig's gummy tongue, the chicken's rubbery heart, its sandy liver A stoppered amber vial in the alcove with something fleshy swimming in liquid The doorframe, one side still bearing pencil marks recording height and growth
Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.