GRIEF Poem: You Never Know, by Martha Fox

For Gregg 1946-2023

When the boulder exploded
everything came at me—

your car keys a bar of soap
that stroked your skin yesterday

your pillow scent hurtled past
I couldn’t grasp it

blast wave gut punch
blast wind

spiking lightning
from a burned-out god, signs

of magical thinking
(the whitest gull’s wing wave!)

guilt fallout gilded leaves
anemones & asters

brash in the first season you’ll never know

ashes in the hearth
you swept last spring kisses’ riffs
rafters ripped from the house we raised

days ahead I’ll cede to you weeds
you fought so long with all you had

memories’ shrapnel loss shock—
flyrock