vervain______

it was small. it made me smile. lead on the page, it sat near there ,wanting more than it had been given. so i gave it a larger audience. a mother always thinks she knows what's best. people will talk. they always have. meanwhile, i let myself out. i had the proper key to unlock the door, and i moved skyward. nothing is as it was but i can imagine it. my own brain haunts the open and empty spaces, adds faces and names to air. i pretended i had something near me. a cat to rub up against my legs, a dog to push its tougue into my open hand. i had niether. i was alone again. i imagined a woman seated on the bed. modest, her hands clasped. i imagined the ball going over the railing. the innocence of the child that followed behind it. taking the same fall. landing on the same concrete.