Mary’s Muse

such silences Mary heard,
such broken thoughts,
and the night noises only
interfering
because she wanted to hear
wanted to listen
as her mom and
new dad played
in their bed, the moans
and giggles and
stop-it-now’s perplexed her
but intrigued her too
especially her new dad’s voice
more of a growl more of a
guttural animal noise
like the pigs when they
groveled in their
pens, snouts full of mud with squeals
and bumps and her mom’s voice pumping
like a train, a small train being
steamed up like some
old Locomotives she’d seen
in cartoons, her mom’s laugh
now bubbling like something
was over, a sound of relief
with a mewing, too,
like Katie’s cat Sissy who
had run away when Katie
died.
maybe it’s back, Mary
sighed, maybe it’s back
and Katie can come
back too.
oh, she hoped, she
hoped so much.