The Shirt

On my way home from grocery shopping

I was thinking

In the quiet of my car.

Had I bought cereal and milk to go with it?

Robert was coming tonight.

I needed to hide my fuzzy blue shirt

Before he saw it and asked me about

The other guy

Who gave me the shirt.

I had thought I tossed it after I moved,

When I was unpacking, reminiscing, crying;

Lamenting the loss of the other

Half of my life.

He loved me once, we loved each other.

We strolled on sidewalks in Gastown

On cold foggy days where

our voices sparkled and dusted the frost

with the colours of Fruitloops.

Did I get cereal to share with Robert?

Barb Olstad

1998