Alarm

Before doctors learn how it is that the brains lights turn on, they may have to know a lot more about whats happening when the lights are off. 
                        —Benedict Carey
 

In her dark she surveys empty: the vanity
from the in-law's Bronx apartment,

the brooch from a lover,
loafers by a coat tree, trench coat,

the husband's profile, an alarm

for news and forecast. Here
                                              she appraises fidelity
before the light violates.

Credit

From Brain Fever (W. W. Norton, 2014). Copyright © 2014 by Kimiko Hahn. Used with permission by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.