reveals itself / like a doe’s hoof tapping ice / till she can drink.

the chemo has burned out / and hospice watches / with tender eyes

Turn left at the first sign of progress / and follow the old highway / along the Stillwater River.

We did what we could, / hid the bottles, drove what / was left of him deep / into the yawning hollow

I take your portrait down to clean / and notice the scar of another / hanging, painted over.