a new tree

My boy cousin maps our family tree in Microsoft Excell.
He uses purple highlight to mark a divorce.
Purple. Purple. Purple.
Purple.
Purple. Purple.

The word divorce was in our vocabulary for so long.
So was ex-husband.
How many more times did we utter ex-husband than we needed to?
Bothering to say ex-husband took too many breaths
and never once replenished the lungs.

So I have a new word and I’m planting a new tree
that grows back from the stump if it ever gets cut down.
Both are called resurrection
and the color is a magenta
the human eye has never seen
and all our women were born from this magenta tree
and now that our mouths have been good and cleaned with permission
to let what is be what is
we can look to this great timekeeper and say
In 2002 she resurrected.

Natalli Amato is the author of two poetry collections, On a Windless Night and the forthcoming Burning Barrel.