Tribute in nine

1.
slow waltz in slippers
gramophone croons whispers
rocks waves soft blue sea

hall walled with rubbish
papers ten years old
stale news stairway/ somebody’s heaven

it’s like… holding a moth/buzzing wings/candle burnt /fragile bony softness
green
apple breath

somewhere a cabbage oozes in darkness

2.
hands shaky as a fit/ slaps lipstick
near her mouth/misses it

3.
stained dress
cocktail hour/bumps smoker’s lips

4.
tears:
daughter on the phone
vibrations of dislike

mutually accepted

5.
hair bounces doggedly unbowed
unbrushed unwashed defiant

storm clouds gather

6.
daughter preaches
hospitalisation medication psychotics sedation urination
constipation
neurology pathology psychology

alcohol induced dementia: Korsakov’s

finally hagiography- study of saints -
herself

7.
lined in a thousand places
smile at me
honey from the wild bee

8.
drugged with good behaviour
skinned of sin
black eyed open mouthed

outside the moon

9.
I paint shadows
charcoal chalk
death bed monochrome silk

I remember her vibrant