Recalled

Your lips have reminded me
of a girl I once knew,

her hair the envy of all sunsets,
spilling red flame, while

willow-green eyes spoke love
to me without caution.

In our youth we two
abused love beyond belief.

But flesh is always
consequence. Far from reality

one summer sweet afternoon
we found our way severely back.

Which is only to say her mother
caught us. Who herself once

must have blushed
in just such flame red hair.


she said

what if
I could disconnect
from you
finally

leave completely
this time
not just behind
my eyes
in imagined choices

but like wind eases
through poplars

nothing resisting
not leaf, not branch
not trunk
rising
in strength
to follow
flight's desire

I'd belong
to no one
not even
doubt

sing instead
unreachable songs
still
left me

in my oh
so separate
heart.


© Ed Higgins. Bio: His poems have appeared in such publications as Yankee, Commonweal and Bellowing Ark as well as the online journals Monkeybicycle, Red River Review and Word Riot, among others. He teaches creative writing and literature at George Fox University, south of Portland, OR.