TATTERED after Cole Swensen's "And Are Ghosts"

After Cole Swensen's "And Are Ghosts" from 4 Oct 2007, this from that same day: Tattered by Jennifer K Dick

and three days it took her……….........……whole
haunting inside the sidling….marrow
seascapes, waves,….……..….landmasses….powdered over

distances elongate through snow……..……a gasp
hovers white in the night………..air a ghost
of what architecture………….she………...might’ve

gone to, touched………..……..wooden siding, that
aluminium roof’s red tile……….…….angling
11th century—Italian?………or newer—nearer—inside

the beads fingered……….a code………….of her passing
coddled….…against the freezing blades…..…winded
grass, hollowed corn stalks…..…yellow wheat

fields’ white…………..……..and the waves
she pressed lips to………whispered………inhaled the rose
to grow back to………………….as if to sprout

yet, to rewind him…….…..there,……..…along mottled
pew-rows, a bony hand….arthritic
gnarled uncanny recanting…………………..softly

to the pebbles…………here……….….time’s crunching
miles and miles……………...….in her breath
night or……....…..the blank……..…….....road filling, billows

harrowing……….…..of his stated prairie………of her farms
opening pages reading………….….lines from psalms
voice that ricochets...to fade….…..to bones………sanded flat