For Mary Cecelia Olmstead on her birthday

You might not remember : you gave me a teapot (2 cup), a mug (CKLN), some candles, a roll of posters (including Einstein sticking his tongue out, Guernica), an extra blanket, tea (assorted), a tea ball, 2 spoons, 1 knife, 1 fork, an extra pillow, all of my textbooks (we went to the bookstore earlier in the summer & you showed me how to look up course lists & I loaded myself down with french activity books & novels & my first precious copy of the norton anthology) : you left quickly : left me : left me talking : left me to settle : left me to settle in : stretch : reach : & accelerate.