Commemoration in O

By Delilah Wells

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Observing oaks, willows,

your botanical look offers

some comfort to old lovers.

You loved, only to forget.

Journeys through Orange County.

Hotels of youthful fornication,

shoes off, socks off,

longitudinal bodies,

one newborn consumes

another.

O, how your ancestors

profited from California’s

oil boom! O,

our cosseted adolescence!

Neighborhood troublemakers,

tossing toilet rolls from Pontiac windows,

no longer unclothed toddlers.

You go long, beyond world’s border,

soul growing older, older.

Originally published 12/09/15