The hummingbird hovers over bougainvillea, darting in and out
of blossoms as the bride throws
her corset among laughter and waving hands. Seeing you, glass in hand, sunlight
piercing the punch bowl’s crystal, I remember
the horse, an Appaloosa, the white and gray markings
like clouds, cumulus, one
later on his grave, the 2X4 cross with name
above a swell of land that could bring
a man to his knees,
or make him look up at fumbling shapes, cotton-fumed
and slow. I can hear the screeching
still. The colt had grabbed a turkey nesting in scrub oak, and prancing,
shook it in his mouth as we ran
reaching toward black feathers—then the ?ne
spray of blood—until beyond adrenaline we began laughing,
as laughing now, brushing confetti away, you hand
the bride flowers, narcissi, their green throats pushing up
from wet stones in a jar.
