The Sand Hill Review           http://www.sandhillreview.org              2004

 

 

Resolution

1905

 

When she sees Leland strolling down the street,

she calls to him, she waves. He—vanishes.

Blinking, pulls back, fights to find that resolution

keeps her head above her feet,

 

poor Leland dead these dozen years. She keeps

a course as steady as she can, this desert

life without him. No, no, watch the resolution,

look, you’re walking down the street,

 

your feet below your head. It’s Leland’s dead.

Stride softening, she holds the resolution

tight, she focuses on feet in shoes,

 

on hands, on—eyes. She’ll take a trip. Instead

of train, she’ll go by boat, one way to lose

this—well-trained ghost. She grins. Dear Leland. Thee I shed.

 

Kate Adams