Ellen Higgins
"I was, he was, we were"
One: Under the umbrella and the rain.
Two: At the kitchen table.
Three: Cold silk and suncream and a suburban Summer
(though you say you prefer the city).
Pressed against the wall,
feeling heat absorbed from a sunny day.
It is night now and I am not nearly warm enough.
We sit and list the things
We are afraid to forget.
‘Only the good’,
repeated again.
They are crying all around me.
But our hands are too small to hold each other’s
and I cannot reach beyond myself.
Two: At the kitchen table.
Three: Cold silk and suncream and a suburban Summer
(though you say you prefer the city).
Pressed against the wall,
feeling heat absorbed from a sunny day.
It is night now and I am not nearly warm enough.
We sit and list the things
We are afraid to forget.
‘Only the good’,
repeated again.
They are crying all around me.
But our hands are too small to hold each other’s
and I cannot reach beyond myself.
Biography
Ellen Higgins is a daughter, sister, friend, student and, maybe, a poet.