Prayer
You were bubbles
of wonder when we met
that went pop, pop, pop.
Each strike by electric shock
made you forget.
You came to my studio
for a drawing class that day
and asked,
Do you pray?
Will you
pray for me?
I said yes, to calm you,
not knowing how.
Later, I saw your face
in my collage.
For your hair, I grew
a grass topiary halo, dotted
with a band of pansies
and marigolds.
I stitched your dress
of periwinkles. Blue
cartwheels pollinated the air.
Snails the size
of fingernails rolled
over your past.
That day I said,
Don’t be afraid of sadness.
Wearing your purse around
your neck, you sunk
into the soft bed, my couch, where
a young male Daoist once
dreamed of nothingness.
Collage and poem first printed in Mannequin Envy
* C. Albert is based in Seattle, Washington and we will be featuring more of her work in the coming months. She can be contacted through inksweatandtears@aol.com.