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Daybook II by Toni Ortner
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Daybook ii
POEMS
Toni Ortner
deerbrook editions
On a Bright September Morning
8/2/2014
On a bright September morning, I turned off the East Side Drive at the 96 th Street Exit and stopped at the red light behind a gray Jeep. There were two men in the front seat, and two men were in the back with a girl wedged between them. When the Jeep rolled to a stop, the girl kicked open the door, flew out, and raced down the street. The two men leaped out of the car and ran after her. She screamed and hurled stones at them, but she did not get far before they caught her. One man yanked her arms behind her back, and the other slung her over his shoulder. They carried her back to the car and shoved her into the back seat. They were cursing. I thought I should write down the license plate and call the police, but I did nothing. Thirty years later I wonder what happened to that girl.
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Most of the Flowers
8/2/2014
Most of the flowers are wilted or dead, but some are still fresh. They preen in the still sunlit air. I cannot bear to throw them out, so I place them gently into a glass of water where they float. Ten hours later the flowers are perkier than ever, even jubilant with pink petals raised to the edge of the glass, waving hello. I wonder what they see as they look at me. They are so small and delicate while I sit here pounding these keys.
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News
8/13/2014
A 39-year-old man murdered his five children. “Cold blood,” the reporters repeated, leaving it to the viewers to imagine how. Next I saw a young woman in handcuffs being led along by two cops. Her head hung down. It was a typical small American town. The morning before the woman posted on Facebook that she had a good day, because she found all the school supplies for her l2-year-old son and her l0-year-old daughter. That afternoon the remains of a six-month-old girl, a three-year-old boy, and a five-yearold boy, were found surrounded by piles of diapers in a locked room in her basement. The children had starved to death. The next door neighbor was interviewed.
The neighbor said, “We never saw her pregnant. We had no idea she had other kids.”
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