Every year, she'd sail a boat of flasks of beer and fishing
nets to the over-damp and winter-soaked far north,
Ruing all her past mistakes, and taking up the space I
cleared for great aunt Carol in the living room
,Each time we went to shop for requisites and basic stuff
we'd end up just drunk enough to lose our way back home
She'd say I should be practical and get a job and get a
life, and I'd play her records on my first hand gramophone
Make her Jasmine tea in those plastic cups she liked so
much, because like her they lasted for impermanence,
,And photo her trying to weed out the herbs of my backyard
deflowered and dethorned since my last divorce
And after she would leave, I'd toss the list of things to
do I made each year for months before she came
I'd paint the fence and drink and feed the dogs and drink
and sleep until I was awake enough to dream
Learn my lesson twice before forgetting it again just to
relive the pain I feel each time I'm left for my own good