Garden
Woman
You were gone
before we could repair the rapture
fix the fracture
stem the bleed
assist the breath.
Your absence
lies alone now
swollen in a
hospital gown.
How are you dead?
How are you?
Your presence lingers
on the lane
around the piano
behind the silent sewing machine
through each season
of this terrible year
in the white flowers
and objects I reflect on
in my garden.
How can you not be here
in this wild white abstraction?
These poems are from Jill's award-winning pamphlet, In Your Absence, published by The Poetry Business in February 2021.
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