To Tina. Like so much else...


Fresh from ambulance; you're open inside.
Already scheduled for struma surgery,
Now hospitalized with unrelated wounds.
Slight brave smile and whisper *I really thought it was enough
Already...
I agree.

Fresh from surgery, brave but unsuccessful at concealing
Multible stabs with every movement
Yet in charge and control of your own, young life
With the unyielding authority of an assertive lil'-ol'-lady when
Demanding to work as if nothing.

Punctures still healing. The phone call comes.
I go to get you at work.
You wanted to work, but your legs don't work
So Alex and the girls close shop and cover you in a blanket of
Collegial Love.

Closed Due To Death in Family.

You haven't yet had time to feel fatherless,
All there is is shock and distance behind
A mask of masterly crafted concrete cored kevlar.
I carry your sorrow by our side to the taxi.
Slight brave smile and whimper I really thought it was enough
Already...
I agree.

This is a statue to your strength, young woman.
This is to record your struggles and blows so they may be held in
The eyes of contemporary poets and the
Cyberarcheologists of the future.

There's something behind your smile; bigger and braver and stronger
Than any man's testosteral ego.

It makes life.
It is a wing over everything.