--- T E R E S A   L E O

	for Leidy Sheeder Bonanno, 1981-2003




Here, it cannot end 
the place where I once
saw sparrows crosscut 
raw, unblemished fields
you who I did not 
know, falling without 
form, rage, the only 
the most beautiful
word in the English
language, languish this:

what Paris, what place
we go but can't see
what body adjusts
to non-light, to tell
what's torn from what's here
snow suffocates field
you who I did not
know, the news, the one
story about what
happened, a twisted 
spike in the gut of
our dark city I

don't want to believe
it's like falling when
you who I did not
know but in some way
did, no words make sense
it is without sense 
you, long hair pinned up 
more than a photo
on TV, lost worlds:
still, ache, mercy, fist
a way of saying 
not this, please, not this