Leaves drained of color on a wet sidewalk;
the girl he always wanted who
let other boys touch her there;
grandmother kissing grandfather’s chloroformed lips;
naked Jennifer gulping grape juice and grain alcohol
as she trips over fallen trees in the Missouri Ozarks;
a fish gilled out of water on a treble hook;
girls sitting prettily, smoothing dresses in shade;
a young wife across a picnic table, backhanded;
one-year-old pounding a toy keyboard;
flowers, lots of flowers in a garden
of pagan statues in coitus, circled by insects;
lovers seated at night on the asphalt roof of an old house;
her constant laughter,
every funny thing she ever said