What they call cool,
cooler & cold, although green
under the skin.

If I came to you when you were old, in pain
adrift, angry, if I came again and again,
bringing the little gifts of flowers, of my flowering

Oh Wednesday, and I gave my coats away. Tied
them in a thick embrace, took them out
the door like a corpse. The old list in the old

I nearly drowned. I nearly burned.
We were in a train wreck once.
I wouldn’t eat. He gave me the bouquet.

First, you should know it’s a dream. I’ve been reading
about her. She sits opposite me
at the table, overlooking the river. Snaggletoothed,

I went every few days. Not real woods, but overgrown
estates where people could walk among tangled
rhododendrons that branched and drooped in the shade