Jane

by Tina Barry

Jane,
     Your son calls to say you’re dying.
While you could still talk, I asked

if you remembered the design
studio where we met.

More exhale than words: I remember.
Drowning in that strange sea of satin and chenille, 

piles of plush cotton, we butted tables
together, safe on our fabric-strewn raft, 

crafted a language we shared for 40 years.

Jane,
     All spring I’ve been stuck
without you in this in-between

my skin numb to the velvet of flowers.
Finches flash, gaudy in their pinwheel-yellow

coats. A color you once mixed in a minute— 
lemon, cadmium, the tiniest dot of Vandyke brown.

For you, nothing could be bright enough. 

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Tina Barry’s third collection I Tell Henrietta, with art by Kristin Flynn, was published in 2024 (Aim Higher, Inc.). She is the author of Beautiful Raft and Mall Flower (Big Table Publishing). Her poetry and short fiction can be found in Rattle, Verse Daily, ONE ART, SWWIM, Gyroscope Review, 100 Word Story, Sky Island, The Best Small Fictions 2020 and 2016, MsLexia and elsewhere. She’s been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Microfiction. Tina teaches poetry and short fiction at the Poetry Barn and Writers.com.

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