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                           _________________________________

Dorothy Doyle Mienko

Dorothy Doyle Mienko:
no past
no future
open mind
complete attention
no reservations
that's all

On Monday I tell Dr. Harry
how I plan to go home soon

he checks my blood pressure
and prescribes capsules

little brown wonders
that will open my heart
to more night

I speak up for myself
and say, I no longer
believe in dream fountains,
that it will be easy to lose
the earth for greater loving

he says, Dorothy, when you are eighty
five you will be here writing poems.

We have this conversation
about my bones: how thin
they have become

I tell Dr. Harry there isn't enough
love, light or touch, that I don't
want to stay here.

When the light goes out, I say:
the party is over