Not Prayer
Vincent Cioffi
That first day, after
you've been away
a long while and
you drive up a dirt road and
a house is still there
and children are still
in it and a woman is sitting by the window.
And why you've been away? Well
maybe you've been working or
drifting or deciding to live after all.
Maybe your father died and you
filled his grave, got in your car and
didn't look back. Maybe
you had a lover and
the way she looked sleeping
ruined you, knowing
she would pass. And so you've
been alone a long while,
say in a room with blue walls
close to the sea where,
at night, you'd lie down to
the sound of the surf believing
no one knew your name, believing
it was yours alone.
ISBN 1-882983-58-0
28 pages/$6