Mary runs through the open gate

of Mountain View Cemetery

where gravestones surround

her sweat on a curved road.

In Mountain View, she gapes

upon a downtown skyline.

Stopping on a curved road,

cemetery roses make her shiver.

Sprinting on, she glares upon Downtown

Oakland vaulting into a commercial sky

spliced from this cemetery sky

that hosts rose petals crumbling like concrete.

Mary wants to shake out this sky’s sorrow.

Gravestone names 

mark where bones crumble

within coffin darkness.

Gravestone names

surround her eyes

over coffin darkness.

Mary runs into an open sky.