Fall in Delaware, 2002

Fall in Delaware, 2002

This novel stillness

takes the shape of fallen

leaves, waiting for innocents

to step up to the cross-

hairs, flinch, fall suddenly quiet,

inert, red.

Did we ever dance before

like startled deer

cornered in the doors of our minivans

filling tanks, or in parking lots

attempting to secret our children to safety?

It must've been like fiery hail

when we fled the garden

under a dark cloud,

swollen with shame until

murder distilled itself

in our minds,

seized brother, sister, mother, son—

bodies so mute

the dirt that bears us cries out.