Dreams of a River I Waded With Others Long Ago

Frank Stanford

She died in the river, she died stepping back
Into the shadows, she died under the bridge
With her pants down, she died with a tongue
In her ear and a dark cigarette in her lips,
She died like heat lightning and milo,
She died like snake doctors on the windshield,
She died in the spring in a dark house
With a storm, she died with her cats and saxophones,
She died with the dead niggerlilies
And the fan belt part number on the nail,
She died first like the wolf
Then the snow in her paperweight,
She died with toilet paper in the screendoor,
And she died with a flyswatter and she died like a window
That turns into a nrirror at nightfall, she died
With chow-chow and dead flies on the tablecloth,
She died without a hand
On her forehead, she died on the side of the road
In the arms of a stranger

Ginny Stanford