Erasing the Tango

An ending’s an erasure
achievable simply by hand;
a beginning demands
the use of tools,
pencils, ice picks, shovels,
to hack away layers of earth
in search of beginnings
that long ago ended,
a broken bowl, one eye
of an ancient mask.

But erasure can be tricky too. If you
stray beyond the invisible lines,
obliterate the finely brushed tree
that arched the lopsided house,
or toss from your mind
memory of the tango,
its elegant sexual promise
in each glance and turn
that preceded
the slam of the door.

Barbara F. Lefcowitz