Strategy i: surrender
my heart is oily blue
swallows, frantic to escape
birds whose flight
is a grace fall to earth
one by one exhausted
swift cockroaches carpet sorrow
muffle the impulse to resist
miniature mouthful
by miniature mouthful
away
and my heart
stripped clean
by the many tongues of grief
continues more than less
to beat
Alice Willitts is a writer and garden designer. She collaborates under the name Cathenka-Willitts (cathenkawillitts.wixsite.com/