HAS ANYONE SEEN MY ROSE VELVETEEN FLATS

knocking the paper doors down
that they have made of You
I turned away,

not knowing where to go

with my child-sized suitcase, in
my red cloth shoes.

the clock of yearning's set to

endlessness and

I weep on pouring the news out to the wind

but it's like a ripped-out seam within
not knowing when I'll find

all my lost porches

floating backwards on the Tide
and my best dishes, ringed with ferns...

when one Word tolls the

bells that they have muted, smashed-
maybe snow-jeweled quietude
will return

but now I only find

that I am I
and dream for you even
without knowing how.

ethereal clouds will come

and their attendant angels
as if from an extended Trip:

bring me crushed violets

bunched
in silver ribbons strewn
the never-ending stars
the winding mists to live in-

mary angela douglas 25 august 2011