Meditations on Divorce and Other Losses

                        I

Petals fall

        off trees

             in the spring.

Like it

        or not.  It can’t

              be undone.

I thought maybe glue

Get elmers and a ladder

put them back

carefully, one by one.

But no. The edges would be all brown,

Shriveled.

                       II

Petals on the ground

pool like shattered glass

when some wild boy breaks

a store-front window

         instant damage

               ugly hole

                    Scary.

                      III

Don’t care about

shriveled edges

I could iron them

flat between waxed paper.

Then get the glue,

climb the ladder

with the ironed petals in

a basket.

Put them back.

Be sure to get water-

resistant glue or

else wasted

effort because of rain.

        Still

Will they look alright?

The same I mean?

Will they lift in the wind

like before?

or will people point,

stare at a purple tree

mid-September?

“weird”  “unnatural.”

Things are, sometimes

Meant to fall

Apart.

Mary Ann Vigilante Mannino