with the strings that are left. I took your

hand and closed my eyes. Aware that

the pelican so many miles away

was in flight.

I Have Not Forgotten

I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN

any of you. Not the long friendship we

somehow broke into pieces so sharp we

couldn’t hold. Or the love we tried so

hard to mend though it splintered like

a fence we didn’t post. I’m still not

sure what it was keeping in or out.

I have not forgotten the tender place

in which we met, where everyone gets

to put down the lies they’ve been told

are true.

I don’t know where you are these days

but I burned the stories of our failure

along the way.

I hope you’ve been heard and held

since we were thrown so completely

into who we are.

The places we break don’t seem to heal

as much as wear smooth, until what we

thought was principle crumbles like a

wall.

On My Way

ON MY WAY

I’m on my way as the police

are pronouncing him dead.

And everything around him—

the IV, the bedpan, the documentaries

he loved to watch,

the pills not yet taken—all of it

drops to the ground, like planets

without a sun. And my mother

leans on a chair in the kitchen,

her heart breaking wider than

she ever imagined. How to be

without him after sixty-seven

years. After all she and I have

been through, I will hold her

when I get there. I’ll hold her

broken heart to the sun where

I can look into the canyon opened

in her, to see what she has guarded

all these years, to see where we all

come from and where we all will go.

Together, alone. I will hold her firmly,

gently, so she doesn’t fall in.

Questions to Walk With

QUESTIONS TO WALK WITH

•  In your journal, tell the story of a time that a life-map you had was torn or lost or just no longer accurate. How did you discover this? What did you replace the old map with?

•  In conversation with a friend or loved one, discuss a limitation you have experienced and what it has taught you. Then describe a limitation that is challenging you now and what you think it might be asking of you.

•  In your journal, describe a mask you have worn that you have put down. What made you put it down? What’s the difference between living with a mask and living without one?

•  In conversation with a friend or loved one, describe a time your heart asked you to put your history aside. In your life, when has history helped you know who you are and when has history kept you from yourself?

•  In your journal, explore the difference you experience between pleasing others and being kind. Who taught you to please others? Who taught you to be kind?