Hi friends, thanks for all the c&c, I think it helped. Here's the
revision, if anyone is interested:

~*~

Mama Cat Searches


I see the curved edge of the shovel
as if memory were a private cinema.
Hear the dry ground protest the force
of blade, the crack of shale
that jars arms, sets teeth on edge.

I can still feel the spine spasm,
the foot lever sod over and over
as the hole opens wide enough.
I remember the thought that it could never
be deep enough, never deep enough
to hold this pain. I see

feet walk the path to a crooked gray house
with porch steps worn down in the center.
The hand pulls the screen door.
I hear hinges screech; reluctant to open.

The feet plod up stairs, enter a bedroom
The back feels a quilted mattress.
The bones fall into place.
Through the open window the song
of an oriole nests in the curves of my ears
with tears and the sound of the bird
changes to an ocean trapped
inside the nautilus of it's own shell.

~*~

Cheerwell, Mary :O)


=====
Good Cheer & Be Well,
     Maryann Hazen Stearns

"Under The Limbo Stick" http://www.geocities.com/Faerhart/

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