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JOURNEYSTONES
I-XI

I.

Maxine

I used to admire your talent

for saying nothing

so well

that way the blood

was always someone else's

and there was always

someplace left

to be yourself

the stranger.

II.

Elaine

my sister outsider

I still salute

the power of learning

loss.

III.

China

girl on the run

I am sorry

our night

was not black enough

for you

to hide in.

IV.

Jan

was a name

for so many people

I cannot remember

you.

V.

Margaret

the broken rock you dropped

into my pocket

had unrelenting curves

that would not polish.

I discovered

it was the petrified half-shell

of a prehistoric nut.

VI.

Catherine

you lie

against the earth

like a little pungent onion

and whenever I come

too close to you

I weep.

VII.

Isabel

I hear your blood ring

but I am tired

of friends who hurt

and lean

at the same time

my heart grows

confused

between your need for love

and your need for destruction.

VIII.

Joyce

you always hated

being furious

and without anyone

to kill.

IX.

Janie

I feel the scream

drowning in your sharp eyes

trained to impersonate mermaids

shallow seductive

and dangerous as coral.

X.

Flora my sister

what I know

I no longer need

to understand.

If you make me stone

I will bruise you.

XI.

The last hole in fortune

is the anger of the empress

knowing herself as mortal

and without child.