footprints on my chest

footprints

The visible and the in-


by Marge Piercy

Some people move through your life


like the perfume of peonies, heavy


and sensual and lingering.

Some people move through your life


like the sweet musky scent of cosmos
so

delicate if you sniff twice, it’s gone.

Some people occupy your life


like moving men who cart off


couches, pianos and break dishes.

Some people touch you so lightly you


are not sure it happened. Others leave


you flat with footprints on your chest.

Some are like those fall warblers


you can’t tell from each other even


though you search Petersen’s.Some come down hard on you like


a striking falcon and the scars remain


and you are forever wary of the sky.We all are waiting rooms at bus


stations where hundreds have passed


through unnoticed and others

have almost burned us down


and others have left us clean and new


and others have just moved in.
 
“The visible and the in-” from MADE IN DETROIT by Marge Piercy. Published by Alfred A. Knopf. Copyright © 2015 by Marge Piercy. Used by permission of The Wallace Literary Agency, a division of Robin Straus Agency, Inc.

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