(RE-WORK) Frozen Tears (RE-WORK)

from Linda Pastas, Something About the Trees

and Kathy Craig, Climbing the Stairs  (READ AT OASIS ON NOV. 15TH, Chapel Hill

form:  Pantoum



I remember the day that my father died
The house was quiet and still
My mother in the living room with the undertaker
Making plans and turning pages

The house was quiet and still
Low voices planned funeral arrangements
My mother in the living room with Mr. Oakley
Asked me to go upstairs.

My father dead?
My child's mind reeled
escaped to National Geographic
My father's gift from the year before.

My child's mind reeled.
I was just fifteen, home from school
Escaping to the Rome Colesium
on the crisp slick page before me