in the Catskills again

i
my wife’s bare footprints on these rocks after
she’s been swimming where the river has dug
a small pool by the road outside Bearsville

it looks like rain no it’s raining should I
follow these delicate marks to find her
no she’s just ten feet away and she turns

back green bathing suit thin legs orange and
black towel it stops raining her footprints
going away have evaporated

but of course she makes new ones heading toward
me there are certain moments you stay in
even as they’re gone like wet prints on rock
or the way you cannot forget your dead friends
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