*

*

Three Phases of Relationship

1. Acceptance

Yes, you became a desiccated, yellow frog

Yes, you turned inward as

the gates locked behind you

left me standing on the risers

in my ivory sheath with the cowl collar

mortarboard askew

*

2. Harvest the good

Books. 

You savored them like cream soup

warm, rich, filling, coating the palate

You fed them to me, read them to me

gave me freedom:

checking account, contraception

gave me trust:

to wander across France

with my twenty-one-year-old cousin.

I was fifteen. 

Sumptuous fruit

from a working mother

*

3. Forgive everything else

The distraction, empty eyes

endless phone calls

lessons you should have taught

about sex, mothering, marriage

lessons you modeled

about manipulation

your wordless departure

sounded like abandonment

since we never said

a proper goodbye