The sunroom
in the afternoon
escalates beyond light
becoming a perfect timepiece
as she sits there
keeping score
cultivating
a careful record of that
which the river offered
in the summer of '28
the pen in the inkwell
on the walnut desk
lifts
in grandmother's fingers
emptying
indelible tatoos
permanent labels
hair and teeth and weight
the contents of a pocket
the value of a tie-pin
now
as dust motes sail
across her vision she pens
the essence
of a definition
the answer to a question
as beside number 116
she writes
body that
of a small man
