“Woman at a Window (detail),” oil on canvas, by Caspar David Friedrich, 1822.
(night before the prophylactic mastectomy)
I
light a candle, open the window
play your flute
let’s be honest
I don’t know how to do this
II
all night long
I sing your names
milk animal
memory of mothering
baby playground
caged spit fire
blue satin boy catcher
lemon meringue whiz bang
lullaby murmuration
tender lamb
mourning pillow
cat tails in moonlight
heart nest
empty canoe
III
please forgive me
for seeing you
as traitors
IV
standing at the train station
locomotive hiss and stink
you in your best suit, jacket
tight against the wind
touch of lace at your neck
ticket in hand
no words left
it’s me, loving you
trying not to cry
Erika D. Walker is the author of a poetry chapbook, Caught in the Light, a children’s picture book, Go Outside, and is co-author of Denver Mountain Parks: 100 Years of the Magnificent Dream, which won a Colorado Book Award. Her work has been published in Literary Mama, Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine, Bird’s Thumb, The Human Touch Journal and Medical Literary Messenger, among others. She is a graduate of the Poetry Book Project and a longtime member of the Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop in Denver, Colorado.
