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Photograph by Donna Marie
Bergeniao 11/11/2003
A Thought for Today
Imagination always deserves a hearing.
FROM the¨BOOKS
THE CHRISTMAS CACTUS
December 17
The Christmas
cactus
blooms against the wall -
its crimson vulva opening at night
and staying through the season,
the blossoms heavy
at the end of slender stems
of plants like octopi
sans evil eye and middles.
Pink and crimson
in the bath or after bath
hands dabbing at your arms
you were Christmas every silent night.
Today a woman in the East-end market
looked up from celery and salad greens.
For one slow moment, it was you -
Christmas in a black print dress.
I am hounded by the holidays
that come in bunches now.
Bright poinsettias and red ribbons
tied to cedar branch and pine,
great armfuls of you signal to me
question me at every corner.
Heavy-headed, staring down
avoiding Yuletide smiles
and New Year promises,
I stay as calm as crystal,
but I am still afraid
of looking up.
-
from "The Sound of Solitude", 1983
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