the opposite
of any December girl’s
innate darkness
the elongated light
signals freedom
from the classroom

let the day
lilies school you
to stay in the moment
brightly without
a hint of chalk
or radiator hiss

still scolding
so many decades
after the fact
when facts still
got factored into it
without irony

o June
month that sways
me / slays me
loves me / is above
me / grows in me
rows away from me

o June
month that brings
evening swims
in an everlasting
civil twilight
long drives

across Pennsylvania
to reach the Jersey shore
before weekend traffic
clogs anticipation
with boredom
and paternal fury

o June
month that brings
my mother home
for the first time
my niece too
on another 6/6

that asks us
to celebrate fathers
even though the name
whispers be sacred
to Juno / even when
fathers have lost

their minds
and died
and all that potential
of a life
dissolves into
broken promises

tonight
let the hell
strip beach roses
fill us
with the fragrance
of delicious amnesia