Left In Manitou

Sometimes I can still see her

Peering out the bedroom windows

Then disappearing

Walking down the blue ramp

Into the park,

Past the penny arcades

Turning left, then heading up Lovers Lane

Where that blue light is always on

Stops at the Dead Man's Tree

Where the noose hangs limply

Then in the dark into the park

With the giant sundial

Only seen in the light of the moon

Take a sip from the fountain of healing waters

Walking over to the big clock

Keeping the time

The time before

The slamming door

And the baby who is always crying

And the mother who was always dying

And the husband who was never around

In this tiny one horse town

Written circa 2001

This is me now, in front of my old apartment in Manitou Springs, Co. I left this apartment in 1998 to move to a ranch with my husband, who was then my boyfriend of only four months. This is me over this past weekend as we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary by going back to the town where we met and fell in love. I got to go in my old apartment, that was wild! I used to take a walk almost every night, the walk I describe in this poem, in the four months I lived here, and now it exists in my memory. I meant to make that night walk again, but instead we decided this time to create new memories.