8   In Memory of Katherine James

Killed September 11, 2001

You can believe that God exists

but the devil’s a way of talking. Yes,

except that demons are us in disguise

as angel voices. They never surprise

but confirm our hatreds. We easily miss

that they’re nonsense messages, an excuse

to megaphone the ego’s madness.

She was a musician, so was used

to leaving her body and strolling through

the wide avenues and sunny porticoes

that melody built. She had an ear

for what was beyond herself, was more

than her wishes. Therefore, I hear

her lovely harmonics in that terrible roar.