Linda Gregg
When the men leave me,
they leave me in a beautiful place.
It is always late summer.
When I think of them now,
I think of the place.
And being happy alone afterwards.
This time it's Clinton, New York.
I swim in the public pool
at six when the other people
have gone home.
The sky is grey, the air hot.
I walk back across the mown lawn
loving the smell and the houses
so completely it leaves my heart empty.
from Too Bright to See & Alma, 2002
Graywolf Press, St Paul, MN
Copyright 2002 by Linda Gregg.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced with permission (click for permissions information).