The ability to save people. Fingers
reach for food, guilty, guilty hungers.

The river runs through
him; it covers his torso
Sometimes the water
recedes and traverses
his nipples. This
happens when the
river is love.



Daniel: incarcerated
five years for man-
slaughter.

Purée of pears, prunes,
carrots, split peas
dribbling down the
chin; milk, milk, milk
dribbling over breast
and chin. French wine
and caviar from the
Caspian Sea.


The squall line was
spawning tornadoes
the night Claude left.

A quarrel over roulette
losses while Baby
Henri screamed in his
high chair. Claude
sped off in a yacht.
That night the empty
craft ran aground.



Georgette, blaming
herself, remained
chaste for five years.


She built her estate
from nothing. Her
neighbor and friend,
Nicole, helped her sell
everything to garner
capital.
The Paris bourse
became her lover.

As a child, she smeared
clinkers, pieces of
burned-out coal, with

pink, blue, and green
salt. Black castles with
untold tunnels.

Salt in the river of love.

Strong currents. High on a wooden
stand sits a man in a white bathing
cap and sunglasses. Guardian angel.



Christy Sheffield Sanford, Copyright © 1996.