When It’s Over

There are so many important stones
where you are, caressed over the years by
holy, bare feet, shrapnel from fighter planes
passing overhead, cracked beneath the wheels
of heavy armored trucks. They look like
the pavers we set in our own garden, here, at home
thousands of miles away
where I am.
I feel the tremors begin in my hands, through the floor
anticipating the phone call that says something’s wrong
a personal visit from the governor of Indiana
I imagine him at the door. The ancient trade route you will be found on
will be made of squared, broken stones, thousands of years old
and not made with poured cement and tile chips;
I’ve seen this road on the Internet, while looking for pictures of you
I couldn’t find you
but I know that’s where you are.

**

On the Other Side 

gone minutes seconds after pulling out
a smile I never saw, collapsing seduction
flamboyant, faded photos on the mantle, inside me,
sightless squirrel paws praying wings unformed
too early to tell to name to beg forgiveness
gone minutes seconds after pulling out
wake to red sheets telephone
knuckle deep in the slot meant to fill,
butterfly folded up still, quiet, black eye
he said, finger lickin’ lyin’ cheat
too late to stop the sacrifice

***

Holly Day has taught writing classes at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, since 2000. Her poetry has recently appeared in Big Muddy, The Cape Rock, New Ohio Review, and Gargoyle, and her published books include Walking Twin Cities, Music Theory for Dummies, Ugly Girl, and The Yellow Dot of a Daisy. She has been a featured presenter at Write On, Door County (WI), North Coast Redwoods Writers’ Conference (CA), and the Spirit Lake Poetry Series (MN). Her newest poetry collections, A Perfect Day for Semaphore (Finishing Line Press) and I’m in a Place Where Reason Went Missing(Main Street Rag Publishing Co.) will be out late 2018.