Diane K. Martin: Love Before Breakfast

1. How to choose a life raft

You don’t think you’ll need one, 

but imagine seas grown choppy,

rain violent.

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The triggering mechanism must 

be failsafe. You must know

when to use it.

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The boarding ladder must

be strong, easy to operate.

Vessel unruly. 

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Handholds are essential. 

High pressure.

High winds.

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Wide exit is required.

Notice the clouds.

Rain violent.

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Crayola color ominous,

color of a black eye. 

Rain violet.

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Don’t know that color?

Don’t need it. Notice

the barometer.

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Notice the sky.                                                            

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2. Snapshots, B&W 

It was all black and white then. Don’t believe me!

A banana was pallid gray. And an orange?

An orange was unrecognizable.

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The water fountain on the ferry said

whites only. Still, we weren’t to use it. 

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He would give her something to cry about.

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If she knew what was good for her,

she would do something with her hair.

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3. Toll House cookies

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She came bearing cookies and crying.

She’d made them herself. She

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apologized. The second batch she saved.

The first went flying. No one had told her

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to cover her hair. She would remember

next time. He told her she would remember

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next time. The second batch she saved.

The first went flying. She said my mind

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is a cat at the bottom of a well

with sides too slick for climbing. 

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Poster art of Lombard with the black eye.

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