Last Leaf

What does the old woman say as you pass?
Clearing, and sweeping across the floor
The voice repeats
Freckles like watercolor
Dripped from head to toe
Wooden floor, hands and knees
I'll paint each square just so you don’t forget me
Coyote nipping, police scanner calls
Pumpkin-colored farm light
Furnace monster;
Her breast cancer
Scratching at my back
All my dreams;
This is just memories
Still polluting, still polluting
Indefinite boundary
My heart is a swamp
You pinned down my soul;
Bondage straps across my chest