a collection of frost
you decide to leave it all,
mostly because the bad
outweighs the good and so
your sons watch you drive
away though you will return
the next day and the day
after that but that doesn’t matter
that doesn’t matter and you
don’t seem to mind leaving
this image, you
with your suitcase and a handful
of books, as if to say
the books mean more than love
though it is hard to explain
that love is air and books
are water and so you drive
away you don’t seem to mind
the hole you’ve left behind,
a hole too big for a needle
and thread yet a hole
not the size of a grave
the days turn to months
and the hole remains
like the scab on a wound
you do your best to fill
the hole, you fill it with gestures
promises of a utopian someday,
gestures like a quick messing
of your sons’ still soft
and placid hair it’s all we know
how to do
this is how we do it
this is how we leave our mark
this is how the past is set on the mantle
this is how we leave the past all but frozen shut