a point
(a sticky long table
down under
in Pullman
Friday 1974)
where the relief of conjunction occurs
over pitchers of beer
and baskets of fried things
is perhaps where
four lines begin.
They separate
travel to various points on the axes
(decades of time,
miles of space
through Fort Bragg and San Francisco,
Dublin and Austin,
Walnut Creek and Alamo
and strange places in between
-I mean! four women to four mothers of six sons-)
to converge once again
to one point
(a pristine altar
in Walnut Creek
Saturday 2006)
the sacrament of communion
over tiers
of sandwiches and sweets,
cups of tea
scented with
orange blossom
honeydew
what gift
what durable, fluid shape
(a lumpy football?)
this geometry of friendship