for steve
in the settled aftermath
of your late attendance
i take a tour of your leftovers
and collect them like presents
your button up polo
deflated like a ghost
an improvisational abstract rendering
of its once naked host
your hair in the sink -
the dark vein of a corpse
an onyx curl
against white virgin
porcelein
your lone gray sock -
an elephants trunk sunk
under the ruffles
of the bed's bottom
bunk
the sheets where you slept -
a crinkled cotton cove
a fleshy embryo
taking view from above
these are your memos,
your sticky notes
stuck
bright and yellow
like butter colored
ducks
this is your crumbs trail,
your dna and ink,
your unseen to the seen,
proof of purchase,
vital link.
