May 1886

 

Hidden –

plain view –

either side

of an atomied veil.

 

A spectral dress,

brilliant under

the white wood covering:

heliotrope and violets,

lady’s slipper

from the homestead,

now one week past.

 

Hidden exists –

Hidden is present,

cramming invisibility

like a swarm.

 

Solitude is

the pressure of

nothing,

filled to the brim.

 

Dear Friend Thomas

has been wired in the East,

but Amherst won’t see him.

Austin and Sue

will help with the clearing,

the delicate ashes.

 

What’s in that chest?

Her own society –

if only Vinnie

can find the missing key.