THE ABSENCE OF MONICA

She’s gone away

on the morning boat

My heart

was too young for her

Wind comes over

the baker’s house

sweet with branch

of burning fir

She’ll never comb

her hair in front of me

I’ll never see

her sweater on a chair

Cinders from the

chimney float

on the absence

of Monica

I spent the morning

with her ghost

We touched the nettles

painlessly

I carry the bread

on a piece of string

and now I’m free

to come and go