August 15, 2023

fragments (in order of a appearance)

The almost-light at 4:30 in the morning. Pulling a round tab on a tin of cat food.
So many years of pouring cereal into a bowl. Later, chairs around a library table.
A debate over the merits of a film about a plastic doll. When I said, You won’t 
be sorry. My mother, ordering a tuna melt and a cup of cream of haddock soup. 
Whatever the purple flower was, as seen through the camera lens of a phone.
There was enough time to catch the ferry. A pub called Whale’s Tooth 
on the north end of the beach. The word “sturgeon” many times over until
I wound my way to the end. Slicing cucumbers with a bright green knife. 
Taking the long way around to return a cutting board. Wild blackberries 
by the side of Bluff Road. Alma’s big eyes peering at us from the backseat.