she keeps years’ worth of birthday cards;
the ones she gets, or’s yet to give –
the colors, lines, the messages,
allow her to relive —

for often, what is physical,
is more emotional than that
which merely lives within our heads;
so often, she has sat

and read again these many cards.
for they can brighten up a day
or make her think, or love again:
yes, art is funny
in that
way