Before Her Death, Angry Argument on Phone


I would walk along the beach
a couple times a week, enjoying
sunset near the golf course

where my body would later be
found. I would lose myself in the gentle
effort of thinking about Puff

mincing his steps
across the windowsills at home
and how I needed to get back

to tend the roses I planted
in front of the place on Edgemar Avenue
where I used to live. Sometimes

I would walk, not thinking at all
about my collection of wedding dolls
or the mystery novel I’d recently

begun, forgetting the things
everyone does about the lovers
they stopped seeing years ago –

not thinking, even after the phone call
that sent me angrily from the house,
the door slamming behind me,

of how a neighbor would find himself
pausing to tell a reporter
that I had been

“kind of shy” but would warm up
to people once I got to know them,
or that I would be found dead

such a short distance away from
places I’d already been.

                                                             for Laura Jessica Valentine