Three at the Bar on the Fourth of July

You who fell to your knees         You who proposed after the ambulancetook the woman    we found bleeding at the foot of the stairs Her husbanddown the block yelling I never forget aface    If they hurt her I’ll kill youyour ancestors your kick Tell me: how can you kill someonealready buried or burned? When Billy showed up    drunk and beaminghe didn’t ask    why you    knelt why I held your hat over your facepaint slashed like lips on the brim    Billy    handed me a Hershey’s Kisswarm from his pocket    I wore a white knit dress :    nineteen on Inis MeáinI bought the cheapest piece in the store I knew I’d always regret going homewithout something authentic Sunny who sat outside his barshadows falling under the dusty awning    Sunny afaintlightinwhitejeanslinen shirt, half tucked in white beard sailing in the salted air Sunny who died last week but that night said, You look like an angel. I said back, God.Falling into a hug: You look like God.    Sunny trailed his fingersthrough my hair    thick and wild    in the salted wind sweat forming curlson my forehead    Billy who saw your eyes glaze    laced his fists into a prayerBilly who watched    as you said I love y ou atSunny’sfor the first time    Billy blocked your ears    then your eyes