she knew
we were flawed

our insistence
& our rush
to arrive
to be present
nearby
& unabashed
    lift the tenor

explain the gravity
or change the chemistry
for modern love
intuitively learned
& reworked 
to romance
our belonging

she knew
Mary Shelley
she knew

Mary Oliver too
who relearned herself
in nature’s garden

the patchwork quilt
readied for the deep chill.

Subsequent Harmonies

he’s different,
unmarried & early future,
where they’re all single,
educated, highly literate technologically
& fascinated by the plausibility
of that silicon beauty,
those automated responses &,
total subservience

he wonders
should he intervene,
bring her to life, define her
& be her champion
because he loves her sensual statistics
& that impending deference,
to him & only him

her manual will be his Bible
that narrative for shared fulfillment,
a new life’s quality dimension
for without her
he is just another aching man
awaiting a designer purchase,
where a formal request to dance
is no longer required.