i sent a postcard
from a deserted train car
but you threw it away and
wept over the way i wrote your name--
the last time you saw me
i was wearing a pink carnation
in a pin-striped suit
but i traded it on a cold night
nearly three years ago
for a swig of rotgut wine
and a
*****
postcard.

--now i'm waiting for you
to turn into a paper bird
and burn
into
me.