Enemies

your past and your future seduce each other
they dance in circles and
laugh at your spinning head
that seems  to 
        turn
                and
                       turn
                          and 
                       turn
               and
       turn
until you throw up last night’s dinner

spaghetti and meatballs
because somewhere down the line
we came from Italy
and your grandmother and great aunt
grew their own tomatoes and did things
the way a real Italian woman would
or should

and then you thought about the cackles
that howl somewhere down deep
somewhere in a hole that you
dug a long time ago
you thought you swept the sound
underneath the cracks of concrete
but you were wrong

because now they were one
and the individual laughs
became just laughing
and when they squished together
they looked just like your mother’s face
the one you both share