The doctor knows the heart and all
its chambered petals. He is versed in
vestigial organs, but not the art of hidden
Things. He reads to find answers. To explain
the way he smells her neck when she appears
in his sleep. To explain the reasons her garden
Dies each hot October. To explain the energy
locked in her rusty shovel. He reads
somewhere that body position affects
Memory, so he moves to her side of the cold
garden bench, of the dinner table, of the bed.
Explain this: red-spotted newts reverse
Cell damage to build heart muscle. The
Canada geese sing with their life-long mates
one half of a song each. He hopes his next life
Lies in dandelions. Over and over, explain this:
the Canada goose, in mourning, will string
the halves they both knew, and sing.
•••
“Passing” originally appeared in What Becomes Us, a limited edition chapbook from Poinciana Press.•••
Sonia Farmer is a Bahamian who will complete her BFA in Creative Writing at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, in May 2009. She is the author of two limited edition chapbooks, What Becomes Us and Grow. Her work has appeared in Ubiquitous Literary and Art Magazine and Poui X.
tongues of the ocean 