1.
One grain is all
it takes you said, one
errant thrust of sea
thru the soft aperture
of oyster
& the pearl is born.
The words
fell from your mouth
& floated up, blood
red syllables
in a clear
yellow sky.

2.
I was still
young when your cells
collapsed.
I placed
abalone
by the door
a gift
for your return.

3.
Once I had a thing
for time. I’d watch
the red hawk slowly circling
over yellowed fields, wings
plying heaven-layers
of gravity
before diving
& I knew
this was a message
a way of seeing
before thought’s
moist crystal
freezes
in the skull.






Melina Costello
8 December 2005