helen imagines she is cailleach on a snowed in Thursday
wears a wig of stiff twigs
glasses, holding the sun
hat, a lot of makeup or none
she has a feather brown flying coat
rainbowed scarf, a bandaid on her left hand
carries a folded newspaper
totes a purse
once a briefcase
always, always
she never smiles
& when she reads
the funnies you
can’t see who she is
what do rattlesnakes think
when helen arrives late for dinner
she always steals their thunder
a mountain landing upon them drastic
they spy outside
rocks/belligerent coyotes
wonder does she bring poison
will she cut their hair, call it mange, will their food taste like ash
can they stand to live with
the mountain
she seems so demanding
& after all,
summer belongs to the animals
cailleach swings on the dock, makes waves,
stomps to a song by queen
badb comes close
you owe
salmon traded for grass
bright amarillo at the gloaming
& carp in
classes doing their best
to make up
when she takes a nap,
in case you don’t know
sometimes osborn bay resembles a
mirror & she thinks of
mirror lake & wonders
how it got it’s name is it
a she, a he, it’s down near
blue a
place to swim & she supposes
at times it must
resemble osborn bay with
hills & valleys, skies
full of bald eagles, deer/
bears in tall grass running,
past trees that look dry
its not hammering in the room
next door early morning, demanding
it might be a rock
sitting with rings of coots
gathered round
she thinks of the smoke
returning in august turns
to stone
crawls across dried hills
of hardened grasses
gold views
blues
she thinks the ravens talk to her
flying solo
crows in groups
geese & she listens
swallows
stretching flat
she floats, water in her
ears, headaches
put off, head back
she makes a grimace
as sweat draws
ants, sand, water on her book
waits for her husband to wake
her
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