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Sonnets From Other Lives: Will & Helen

Outside the storm is wilding on as though
it intends to rip the world apart.
They lost power half an hour ago.
Beyond the candle glow the house is dark.
Will & Helen sit together reading;
he Raymond Carver, she Joyce Carole Oates.
--Love—he asks her—do you feel like eating?
She thumbs her place & answers—I don’t know…
I could warm some chili on the fire .
–I’ll dig a pot out of the camping gear—
he says rising slowly. He is tired
all the time after his stroke. --Oh dear—
he thinks as a wave of vertigo
reminds him of mortality then goes.