A Different Hallmark Poem by Greg Young

A Different Hallmark
for Elizabeth Van Doren


I. Connecting

She calls me collect
from the state mental institution
and tells me
that I was in her hallucinations
when they carried her in.

'See, ' she says,
'You have become
such an important part
of my life
that you are in my hallucinations! '

by that
she means

I love you.

by that
she means

I might be useful to her.

'Do they have a Hallmark card for that? ' I ask.
'I don't know' she says, 'but they should! '


II. The Card

I wanted you to know
that sometimes in the snow
between television channels

or between the lines of the news
when they whisper at me

that you can interrupt the broadcast

winking

from the anchor desk

making shadow puppets
on the weather wall.

(Don't think I wasn't privy)

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