(for billie holiday)

billie holiday sat just
beyond the burning
horizon for six,
maybe seven, years
stringing her vocal cords
across a cheery red
spincasting rod,
swinging the line
forever into the dark
in the hopes of
nabbing this panfish.

then finally, on a
yet-to-be-shaped
morning, with unnamed
sorrow in my heart,
billie’s line caught
and – after carrying a long
hard song into the rippling
darkness – she knew
this one was for keeps
.
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