On Discovering that Revlon Has Discontinued Shade 712


Grief-struck in the Walgreens aisle, my first thought
was Mom will be bummed the one color that was hers
for years and years is gone, her beautiful
hot coral lips across the booths from me 
at Maxfield’s Coffeehouse, in Panera and Colectivo,
across the glinting silver table al fresco
at Beans n’ Barley, our annual summer
celebrations of blueberry pie 
with extra whipped cream on a plate of its own,
her shining hot coral smile no matter where,
even the day the ambulance arrived
to pick her up off the living room floor
because of lesions we did not know 
had been spreading in her brain, she insisted
on applying Revlon 712 before she left home
for the last time, though now sometimes in dreams,
within whispers of my own silence I can hear her
telling me not to linger in that moment,
to walk out into my days still, my lips 
radiant with any color of irrepressible shine.  

​(poem forthcoming in Mothershell from Kelsay Books)