susan, sixty-four

Susan. Sixty-Four.

Butterfly Girl

I still have the one you gave me.
often broken, just as frequently repaired
I still wear it in my hair"

ceramic butterfly selected by the girl whose face
was china, and who might have come from China
- her feet mysteried in planetary boots

beneath long skirts not clean enough
for Texas high school; so exotically upholstered
in that winged cocoon of cape:

our first untanned Californian.