after Wayne Holloway-Smith
Houdini Sara, able to escape cribs and exit doors with rope locks still intact — swimsuit under her snowsuit Sara, always calling out “to the beach! the beach” in the middle of winter — Sara, age 8, fearless — Sara, age 12, afraid — Sara, age 33, exhausted — Sara the youngest — Lake Superior Sara — Sara the bear-a — Sara without an h — Sara, moving from Upper Peninsula Michigan to Hickory, North Carolina, picking up a slight southern accent — Sara sass, responding to the teacher’s question, “what are you doing?” with, “none of your beeswax!” — Sara with a smile, not with storms brewing in her eyes — lake Sara — pool Sara — creek Sara — river Sara — soccer Sara slamming into opponents, making the earth shake — kicking boxes not kickboxing in the basement Sara, losing it because of something one of the kids said did wanted — Sara with short hair — Sara with long hair — Sara with blonde hair — red hair — gray hair — permed hair, looking like Little Orphan Annie under the red drying lights — Sara whose Mom is alive — Sara whose Mom is dying — Sara whose Mom is dead — Sara who sees things very strangely — Sara who spills — loud Sara — quiet Sara — Sara who won’t shut up — subluxation Sara — Sera-san — Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam’s Que Sara Que Sara — Socks with sandals Sara — Sara from the gorge not the block — Dr. Sara — irritating Sara who always wins at Clue — Sara who cannot get a girl to go to school — Sara who is too much — Sara who is too little — Sara who is just right — Sara who always sings the melody slightly wrong — subzero Sara who loves winter running. Can you imagine us all swimming across the lake together, the quick flashes of our bent limbs looking more like fins than elbows? If you stretched us Saras out, all 45 years of us, toe to fingertip, could we link the shores?