February 2022
Deborah Gracia
wordbuddle@protonmail.com
Bio Note: I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Masters in Social Work preceded by a BFA in Photography and Art History. I cofounded a program for children with cognitive disabilities combining education with therapeutics. Despite the steaks in my freezer I am currently attempting veganism.

The Silence of Clouds

I’m sitting in the family room 
looking out over the back.
A robin sits on the neighbor’s fence
considering their backyard.

Four summers ago the wife 
had a death grip on their little dogs’ leashes
on a day hotter than flames themselves
as she slipped on their grass
disoriented, panicked,
couldn’t see while
sounds were dimming.
May she tried to scream louder.

She baked on the small
hillside alone, they guessed, for
about six hours
before finding her
with a body temperature of 109
as she bled out.

If I wasn’t gone that day but
in the kitchen as usual
I could have saved her.

No neighbor was home that day.
Just clouds looking
down as they
quietly passed overhead like
swans crossing a pond.
©2022 Deborah Gracia
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