you leapt sometimes
you walked away sometimes
that time on the phone you
couldn’t get your breath
I leapt but couldn’t get to you
I caught the brow that bid the dead
I caught the bough that hid
I’m, you know, still here,
tulip, resin, temporary—
From Shirt in Heaven, published by Copper Canyon Press. Copyright © 2015 by Jean Valentine. Reprinted with permission of The Permissions Company on behalf of Copper Canyon Press.