Out of the Blue

A Poem in Prose excerpted from the Memoir, 'I Must Have Wandered'

What did Virgo’s stars portend? A prophecy of place and time, a raison d’être. On the designated date, September 21, the cusp of Libra the Just, she was pushed into the autumnal equinox. Formed in a fog like a nebula. Delivered in sorrow on fall’s first day. Early autumn brought blue asters, sweaters, schooldays, and storms.                                                                                                   
     The mother and child—placed together by unvirtuous accident—were separated in a single, swift scoop of happenstance. All concerned should be protected. Our union of chance was brought asunder by circumstance. Another postwar charity case gave me life and then left me in tears. Left me in tears. In a swirl of ambiguity and abstraction, we were severed and left to wonder. The facts of her birth were muddled, muddied by secrets and lies, her name erased, the records sealed. Out of the wild blue yonder, blue like a September sky, like a sapphire birthstone, she belonged to an Air Force couple.

Photo by Juskteez Vu on Unsplash

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