Losing

What Do You Do


When you know you have lost,
and nothing will ever get it back;
do you smile at strangers to find answers?
Do you pull the quilts of exotic lovers
over still-warm-from-his-love nakedness,
and hope for a new beginning?

Southern girls are raised to talk about it.
We discuss our sexuality with sisters
behind graceful rules of etiquette and
melting ice in tall crystal glasses.
We use back street words and respect
each other for bravado of tongue.

But, we never mention the truth of losing.
A well brought up girl is not prepared
to be one of the women who has lost.
Girls who lose live in other places.
They wear thick brandy wine lipstick,
and paint their cracked toenails opaque.

So, what do you do when everyone knows
you have lost, and nothing will get him back?
The sisters look away. Smile like you own it, girl.
How do you smile through a summer night
that sweats with his memory, and sings
in cricket calls of what will never be?


Shirley Alexander
2009