Seeing Lake Tahoe

Seeing Lake Tahoe for the first time made the cones and spheres inside

my eyes spin and leap in excitement

stimulated by the electric blue,

and the sharp, bright harshness

of the sun within the lake.

Afterward, things were never the same.

I remember thinking maybe my eyes had to be brought

to life like Sleeping Beauty with the Prince’s kiss.

That weekend I began to see things that had been

background noise before and there was no turning back.

My husband’s hand on another woman’s ass,

My daughter’s limp hair falling to silver collarbones

sitting like a necklace someone loaned her,

the neighbor’s cigarettes smoked out on the back porch

always alone, accompanied by a glass of Gin.

In the morning the long, hot, dock calling me

suspended above the eye changing lake,

lifeguarding what was left.

Everyone wanted to be blind.