gone.   (looking at palm) the hand feels empty.

madman. flashing: gray, black, white.

a little girl in bathing suit, squirting

water from the hose at the camera.

gone.   why not some other mother’s baby?

            she wonders: will the body ache

for the loss of love like the ache after birth for the loss

of the new born?

the hand feels empty

for the loss of a child to hold.

This is the first of five poems in a series.