lucille
  michelle m. buchanan
     
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My shirt is tight, 
too tight for a warm 
day in March, 
in NY. 
 
Lucille's entire life was 
layed out in rooms 
everything priced with 
white tape. 
 
People waited in 
line to rape her 
possessions, grab 
what they could. 
 
They found her paintings 
in the attic a month before 
and galleried them out in 
the basement. How could 
she have been unknown? 
 
I don't know. 
 
I ran my finger along 
the edges of tables 
jewelry boxes and 
old books.  
 
Somewhere in that house 
she was looking through 
a hole drilled in the wall, 
just an eye shifting back 
and forth. 
 
I could hear her laughing 
at my shirt. I know I've 
outgrown it, Lucille. 
I know. 
 
I took a silver necklace, 
a bird in flight. For me. 
To remember someone I never 
knew. 
 
The rest is for sale, 
including this shirt. 
 
 
 
   
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