The widow shakes her coat
At the bedroom window.

There was a Porsche in the garage
Now long gone.

She warms in black sweats
On her maple deck.

Sunlight sparks the lake below.
Chimneys blue the valley with smoke.

She lives on cigarettes and tea.
There were sketches she drew

Before the war:
Whimsical swirls of clouds

Hugging the trees.
A soft forest circling the village.

The past fogs her present
The way mist blurs the hills.

Sheets dry over the lake.
Winds from Croatia billow them out.

She remembers midnights with him
In a world erasing shadows.

Kirby Wright was a Visiting Fellow at the 2009 International Writers Conference in Hong Kong, where he represented the Pacific Rim region of Hawaii. He was also a Visiting Writer at the 2010 Martha’s Vineyard Residency in Edgartown, Mass., and the 2011 Artist in Residence at Milkwood International, Czech Republic. He is the author of the companion novels PUNAHOU BLUES and MOLOKA’I NUI AHINA, both set in the islands.