Guidebooks for the Dead

Vandal Poem of the Day: August 11, 2021

 by Cynthia Cruz

The starting point
Was mystical.

I could feel something bright
As it left the body.

What I wouldn’t give
To go back—

To my tiny, almost
Russian childhood:

Mother in her crimson gown and stage
Make-up: baby

Blue glitter shadow and her long
Beautiful arms

Changing me into her
Small blonde princess.

When the wheel moves by,
Night is gone.

This life is gone.

There will be no other
Life, other than the sweet

Lavender, sweet
Blossoming dream

Of this one.

from Guidebooks for the DeadFind more by Cynthia Cruz at the library
Copyright © 2020 Cynthia Cruz

Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Four Way Books.

Published in Cynthia Cruz Poems

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this (publication, website, exhibit, etc.) do not necessarily represent those of the Idaho Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.