Georgette

Dignified is a heartsong here
Harsh traverse of the unknown

"Better to go down dignified"
Ekes out 
constant

What gives in us, or won't give
(her smile seen once in the Red Café)

Turns sparkless
Into sparklers

One "s" less
One "r" more, Georgette

-- -- -- -- --

The new wall we built that year
where the house side had been torn out

Grammar we called in

like a bet on narrative

-- -- -- -- --

Now I am the only one who hasn't yet gone in;
and I have these sentences

(fissures in the hand)