the tortoise and

the hair….

ps - in case you forgot what her head used to look like,
or in case it does come back in gray and curly - like we’ve been
told that it might, here’s the yummy black mane in all its glory:

cliche with cachet

leanne keeps saying that she’ll wake up
one of these days and all of this will be untrue,
that she’ll wake up and she’ll still be pregnant,
the snow will still be piled up on the grass outside
our house, her hair will be long and black and straight,
the furnace is on and it’s january again.
from everyone i’ve talked [...]

from what i hear

leanne’s grandma, rena, sits alone in the corner
of atrium village’s atrium lobby, around her are
probably old folks in various stages
of sleep and conversation - some talking to people
who are sleeping, others talking in their sleep.
but she is awake and just reading.
the sound of metal walkers scraping
along the floor. a piano sits there.
no one ever plays [...]