"it's easier in retrospect"

dear jane, i'm packing.
finding snails on the window sills
and coins inside.
reading essays on beauty--
aesthetics and the charred chins of baby
chimney sweeps--london, the 1800s. listening to
authors on my radio
reopening their files, cabinets
and murders in a shadow-shocked
family. good bye, jane,
the poet's buried aunt.