pumping

All three were skilled in the use of parasols and feathered fans, but their intentions were as indecipherable as those other women from Mompox.
-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I.
There are a thousand mysteries
not worth maintaining.
Fall open, fall open steel heart.
There are not enough days in this universe to merit hiding.

II.
Red dress, boat necked,
profile peering twisted,
yellow umbrella perched.
The picture captured the way I looked
at a carnival in fourth grade.
It was exactly how I pictured myself to look,
exactly how I wanted to look,
revealed only weeks later
when the film got developed.
If only there was a way to know
at the time.