August 20

2026
Author

Elizabeth Kolling

Published

August 20, 2026

Don’t forget

it in his eyes,

how he rose;

Vicente awoke

at four for yours and you on the couch with a bum gut,

made her side of the bed,

his afterwards,

and a pot of cowboy

coffee,

no breakfast,

before blushing Mirabel,

pink below the nose bridge,

in the middle of something–

a phone call

regarding food

stamps.

Regardless, he left

a dub by the bowl

of Meyers about the kitchen counter,

got in the burnt-out

break light of a car

and drove east-west

across Cesar Chavez,

bumping a bit of old

soul, Santana

through and through

six-way stops

at death’s doorstep,

The Anarchy

intersection to prune

this morning

our Mourning

Glory into the shape of a healed heart,

so,

so deep

blue-

indigo, and each day it blooms and folds

closed,

opens and grows

anew, as you do

mírame.