At the Nursing Home

I wear a dress of pale blue gauze.
It flows from my shoulders into the
pond of what they remember
so they reach out to touch,
limp to the shores of the 1920's.
Chiffon, they murmur, gnarled fingers
holding the edge of the boat
a lover rows through the fabric of water.

Joan Swift has published four books of poetry and received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the Washington State Arts Commission. She lives in Edmonds.