Years ago I stared at Nighthawks. In me
Edward Hopper suddenly came alive. Then
It was so simple. I look up outside
The window is a web – you see
If I do not slide open and destroy it
The dregs of the web will eye me
As I make tea. If I follow the heart, kill it
With my chain of thoughts
That will guarantee
You’d hear the slate of sounds:
Key in, running tap, fingers
Tap-tap-tap. Teacup, key in, wrong key, turn
Right out. The elevator brings me
To the same side as silence –
I’m here now, downstairs from your window
It’s yours.

Years later when I went back, the murder
Scene was no longer the drugstore.
A famous restaurant has taken all
The old eaves down and painted irises:
Christened her Swallows. My love nest upstairs
Could not have heard her cries
For locked in that room
Are windows too. The webs are as beautiful
No one slides. No one found. No one knew
The windows were only to look into.
I did not look in the drugstore
There was no need;
We could not conceive
Love.

Just yesterday I took off my clothes
To put on a dress. In the mirror a web stood
Outside the window – what was I to do
I slid beside the bed, half naked, waiting for the spiders
To come get me. Killed one and
Left another one dying. After the first time
When I lay in silk, whether to wait for you or time
I still do not know.
My hands cannot pretend. These claws of
Wrinkles and webs I cannot hide;
But I love them and will not kill
Or rush what comes
With time.