the date returns more quickly each year
a squeaky hinge to remind you
as if you would ever forget
half a lifetime ago
a pre-sunset boat cruise
up and down a river not known for romance

decades after the last fire
decades before fish from its waters
would be safe to eat / never safe
for the fish
it’s not about a yacht called Heartbreak
Hotel / or is it

it’s not about sisters bonding / or is it
not the other Elvis headlining Nautica Stage
not the DJs or cousins of DJs
dancing to an opening band
no one would accuse
of being a dance band

a daydream first mapped out
in a New York City brownstone
it’s not about the City / it always is
a lead singer that leaps off the stage
even you yawn a little
telling the story / Minnesota boys

you’ve reduced that one
to dredge found
in the bottom of a drained glass

everything flows back to that river
you took for granted then
cannot stop thinking about now
the real hero / crooked
with its jawbone exposed
and recovering / let’s hope / in time