46 Anne

By Ti Sumner

Posted on

for Anne Sexton

A boat in the garage, one last sail, one last row. Inside out finished, words through the seam, bedlam in grey and green.

Those matches never blew out the darkness. Never lit the street, never lit the dream. Never dammed the beckoning sea. The vessel. The tethered boat at the edge. Never sealed the fracture, the malacia, the fault between role and creator.

The lapping Charles calls one final, fifth time. Hysteria sets in, welcome in this place, manic in this space, carbon monoxide the elixir. Red cells swim like fish back and forth, at last the awful row.

A boat in the garage, one last sail, one last row. One final, fifth time.

Ti Sumner

Author’s Note: I wrote “46 Anne” in response to Anne Sexton’s poem “45 Mercy Street.” Peter Gabriel’s song “Mercy Street” also provided inspiration for the poem.