Requiem

I.

She hovers as a vacuum

Of the same name

Growls and shakes the crumbs

From carpet’s branches

As if the roar of paper shreds,

Dirt particles and plastic pieces

Could conceal those prying glances

Over shoulder

And onto his creation of

Lines with reds, yellows as dancing partners

Two-stepping across

Connect-the-dot paper

II.

At breakfast

The grip of a spoon in white fisted hands

And clumsy transfer from carton to glass

Is subject to critique

From crimson lips, parting prettily

Though the perfumed words

Act as pilfered ideas from

Parenting magazines

His porcelain façade

Fades white

Feeling like rings of water along red checkered lines

Seeking a larger body to hide in

III.

Smoke haloes form around his head

While horizontal strips of dawn

Break over scruffy hair

Through Martha Stewart blinds

And the sun shines from

The lighted end of addiction

She checks the oven

As her self-timer goes off

The shrill screech

Rings clear in the clouded fog

Of mind and pastel kitchen

Reminded of a too familiar voice

All her own

IV.

A conference full of confrontation

Spotlights years of sculpting

This marble boy

Into a concrete man

With faults too similar

Suddenly,

Realization hits

In his glaring eyes

The chisel fell from her grip

Years ago

V.

Perfect piercings

Wait for reason to come

Her pearls

His snake bites

Wait.