Vellum
(Published in Yeffief 1997)

These were more than unreasonable requests: the clouds, like cadences,
interrupted and dispersed peaceably. And her jeans faded. And suns set.
And the calculable calm.

At one point a lone bicyclist passed, framed in the bay window.
He set to like glass.

Her miniature laugh and skin. A footprint, in a sandpit. My own fingers,
fearful to turn.

Michael Arnold