From “Pieces of Kate”

Thirteen

Her Junior High School graduation:

she’s singing alone

in front of the lot of us—

her voice soprano,

surprising, almost

a woman’s. The Our Father

in French, the new language

making her strange, out there,

full-fledged and

ready for anything. Sitting

together—her mother, her

father—we can hear

the racket of traffic

shake the main streets

of Jersey City as she sings

deliver us from evil,

and I wonder can she see me

in the dark here, years

from belief, on the edge

of tears. Doesn’t matter. She

doesn’t miss a beat, stays

in time, in tune—while into

our common silence I whisper,

Sing, love, sing your heart out!