What kind of warning signs were you expecting?
Would she pour her mistakes
into a crystal dish
and set them before you?
Would she hang makeup stained
pillow cases out of her window
each morning?
Would she break skin
below the hem lines
with the hope
that you would notice?
We don't often get
the warning signs
that our eyes are trained to see.
We don't get warning signs at all.
we get wake up calls
we get fists full of cold pills
seen from under the bathroom stall.
We get to make phone calls
with seconds to spare.
We get to shake so violently
that our hands forget they are hands.
We get to answer seemingly
unimportant questions
to dispatchers who hear this
all the time.
We get to wonder
if survival instincts are real.
We get to wonder
why anyone anywhere
would ever name their daughter
Rosemary.