Everything we tried to defend

Dedicated to Cindy Lee and Marissa Nadler

There are scallops in the raceway, pardoning the salty smell of adjunct retreat
passing along the sidewalk of the far too busy highway, burning with fame
broken rails and chipped fingernails where vehicles collide so often
an intersection paved with blood, did She not meet you there, did She not arrive
like a tailored scout She did defend you in the presence of other mothers
but do not treat this as a quick witness, this alibi will be with you forever

Docking pay for late arrival from besideways vehicle collisions that barked up the sidewalk
did you dare to tryout for the missing sarcastic sailor saint driving in wedding photos
selfish along the crayfish netted stocking Alsinga tragedy night-stock tremors supplanted
this scolded whale uniform on the bridge of voyages past and present wishing outcomes

Walking frankly, God stepped into your oast house, just to be near earth, hoping
but there was the train station, distracting from the central loving point, scarring, staring
Here in the bathroom in the corner of the police station, I am overwhelmed with tapestry,
the green wallpaper, the blood of cadets and soldiers, not deserving of these malpractice tricks

Oh, will you sing for me and God to hear the subsequent distraction from our labors?
Will you visit on Sunday when racing thought broadcasting cannot lie?
Please wed nearby that I may attend the broken tap dancing tribal welfare smoke and snaps,
like coffee from the rust of bombs on the ocean floor, never detonated, left from some old war
Hang around the crispy Florence jewels like travesty for the stranger’s husband,
so that we can leap and prevent a panic attack at once as though we always had survived