INTENSIVE CARE

“I’m relearning the clouds,”

my mother says.

“I sit all day and watch them pass.

I can still remember their names-

Cumulus.

Nimbus.

Cumulonimbus.

Cirrus.

Stratus- the thin ones that stretch out across the sky.”

“I watch the birds,”

she says.

“I watch them dive and swoop,

land on the roof and take off.

Last night I dreamed I could walk.”

“All day long I watch the birds

the clouds.

Cumulus.

Nimbus.

Cumulonimbus.

Cirrus.

Stratus- those hazy ones that stretch out like veils right across the sky.

And then evaporate.”