John R. Staples, Family record executed with a pen, c. 1878
Lithograph print on paper, 56 x 43.5 cm
Digital image courtesy of the Library of Congress
or my well-practiced timing
for leaving even before the end
of movies. I can’t stomach
the possibility for disaster
or the acid bloom of anything
besides a happy ending.
I can’t let anyone
decide my fate.
Not the cards
or the cracked egg
& its bloody yolk.
Not the conch shell
split in a pomegranate
busy with gnats.
Even the future
& its certain hands
let me oil slick away.
My own fingers fuss at the hem
of history, weaving
my past into my present
like a bone corset.
I am as cowardly as the moon.
When I leave I can’t help but return.