dan sicoli

LETTER FOR LEAH

the summer we dated suicide
    my dear patron saint of chaos
we thought we would soar above them
kept laments and palpitations hidden in canopic jars
driving distances with unbearable pain
until exhausting mortal strength

whenever you’d lose control
i would unwrap you
redirect misspent angst

before the lithium walk
i hung a new dress on your bedroom door
you thought it unfitting
disappointed you couldn’t fill what you conceived
my vision of you to be

after the lithium
when september brought jagged
softball-size hail battering down
busting four windows in our house
you fled to an open field
tossing handfuls of meds into the sky

you then slid yourself wholly
into that summer dress
and danced barefoot to a far-off war of beats
as midnight lightning flashed silently on your face
i learned to eat what preserves you
    to suck the tongues of babel

Location:	Niagara Falls, New York
Email:	slipdan@aol.com
Publications:	Concrete Wolf, Whirligig, Re)verb, Stirring, etc.
Chapbook:	Pagan Supper (Pudding House Press, 2003)
Co-Editor for:	Slipstream Magazine and Press
Experience:	Stirring Guest Editor : September, 2002

- October 2003 - Groundhog Day All Over Again Impressions at the Monument Passing Shutins An unforgettable poem Thanksgiving letter for leah Where Old Ghosts Meet - 2003 Pushcart Nominations - Hyssop After the Flood String Lessons The Taxidermist's Wife How to Build a Man Automony