The Actress

( by Nick Mancuso )

you can not call her Beauty out
for she is Beast and smiles

she hides the miles so well
and leads you the guileless
place

pointing to the space
between spaces

there she is now
in the garden back lit
sun lit
she is

her hair is long and blond
and fragrant as ripe cantaloupe
she will not say her name

(but i know her name

by heart)

and she herself
has memorized the planets
& the stars
and keeps a passport by her
side

she has been to Japan
and beyond Japan

to miles away

from the rusty shores
of this
battered heart

high above the stars
she floats

where the baby hands of man
cannot reach her

i know her well

as well as i know the salty
milk of mother’s earth
and know where she has gone

she is gone, gone, gone
but she remains
the actress