So Many Lives But Not So Many Names Poem by Robert Rorabeck

Late bloomers in the river
Where your brother drowned;
Water flowers, ballerinas of
Corkless furry, and each girl loves
A new man,
Winnowing fingers spread like curtains
Underneath the ceiling fans
The perfect tributaries repose together
In a sorority’s cemetery,
Across the canal where the eternal
Garden smokes, crenellating like
Water snakes the places beneath the billboards
Where the living proceed through their
Cars,
But they cannot find me because I have skipped
School;
They are not even looking for me,
As the cats slink through the hand smoothed stones,
Laughing because they have so many lives
But not so many names.