1

checking a box
just to
add another line
a growing list
fills every moment

2

bathed in moonlight
I bid her
one final goodnight
with soft fingers
grazing her headstone

3

your hands full
of my laundry basket
you never mind being
the strong one
for me

4

looking at the stars
on a trampoline
far beyond the city lights
why is it so clear?
when I can’t remember yesterday

5

trying to enjoy
the night walk 
wind bites
my fingers
I imagine her hand

6

a cousin
i never met
now
only a picture
in a gold frame

7

the smiling man
in a suit exclaims,
"doesn't she look good?"
a week ago
she passed

8

we called it a Fiesta!
with homemade nachos
and nothing else but us
I look back fondly
with a fridge full of food

9

falling behind
my classmates again
pausing
to gaze
upon every painting

10

i pop a pill
and take a swig
she murmurs, 
sing me more
poetry

11

watering 
a flower bed
of lilies
and mums
your grave

12

naming the way
her aunt
taught her
to swim
Jenny arms

13

tying a clover necklace
for all who ask
this is how i’ll make
the other girls
my friends

14

still, I play,
as summer sun burns
with the reminder
that this semester
will be my last

15

there was once a weird little boy
who liked what he liked
and knew who he was
how on earth
could he have been me

16

thick oil paint
on museum canvas
I could live my life
among
the brush strokes

17

finally,
i could get
my ears pierced
of course . . .
my little sister too

18

she tells me
how I slept
the day he passed
the child who always
cried at peace