“Jacqueline”

You were born at flood o’clock, baby girl
banging jingle fevered lines of s.o.s. at the xylophone bars of your crib
Yeah, you were born at levee’s break
where you could cry reflections caught in your momma’s sweaty hair
as people, pets and coffee cups were swept up blindly in the current

When I saw you, you were cat scratch battle wounds across your cheek
You were kitten wrestler tough
some patchwork creature dressed in myth and pillow cases
You tried to stand like brick, face red and oven-cooked to stop me floating through
but you were built of only wild reflections
and all your tie-died skin had soaked me up
You said, “The flood’s coming back, now just act natural”
and I was natural as wet concrete and five speed standard but I kept my eyes on you
to see your wildflower springtime bloom across your face
to see you rain like California June, dark and stormy and in a heat wave

And then you stared your silent wilderness at me
I bet you could cry hummingbirds for all the blur and feathers that your eyes became
Your wings beating eighty times per second through my chest
as you nibbled tingle fevered lines of ecstasy up the xylophone cage of my ribs
and stopped to bite your bottom lip,
remembering what time it was