Artwork: Slapping the Pavement by Will Jacques
Cage of Bones
Donna Hooley
I’m singing with Zevon in my new red Scion,
Hundreds of tunes on your thumb drive,
Buried deep in the center console,
A heart full of songs.
The car is Absolute Red
Like the blood flowing when your chest
Spread, stitches bursting, bones parting.
Absolute Red
Like the towel I told the nurse to discard,
Like the gauze beneath it that you’d grabbed,
Piled there on your sick table at home,
Stopping up the gaping hole,
Saving your life.
I’d fetched our best towel then,
One of a pair.
You heat its survivor in the dryer now
To wrap around me
When I wash my hair.
Always we choose the best for one another.
