for Brenda
I saw you early today in the window
of your den that overlooks the street,
no doubt googling the latest treatment
options in a blur, while a Howe Sound
wind held office among the skyscraping
trees, rifling through the leaves like it
was looking for something, someone
and I dared to hope that far from the
finality of a label, written or spoken,
your body could soar in the open air
of its dreaming places and be nameless,
ageless, free again of any diagnosis, and
that behind the pane you too could hear
birds now shuffling through their notes
as if in concert with lifting the dark
sentence from that tiny cell of a word.
I am happy to say that so far, 8 years later, the birds have worked their magic! This poem is included in my chapbook “Irresistible”, coming any day now from Finishing Line Press, copies of which can be purchased here:https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/irresistible-by-lynne-burnett/
Lynne Burnett 