Prosaic Dream

You are not in
her dream—merely fragments left
behind to prove

you were here. A small sketchbook,
a pair of socks, one
thick glove, a trace

of your carefully constructed
thought. She handles
the sketchbook but

finds an old-fashioned band
flyer with a letter scrawled
on the back

more appealing. Scans
the words—sees her name
near the bottom of the page. Slanted

forward. You know what
they say about that. And then

she wakes up. No idea
what the letter said
about her or who

it was addressed to. It’s 20 below,
and the cat’s licking bedroom
window blinds again.

Despite What You Believe In

Just because she takes
pictures of snow-packed trails
with her iPhone doesn’t mean

she’s a photographer. Writing
a text to his lover
doesn’t make him

a writer. Just because
she flies
first class overseas

doesn’t mean
she’s a pilot (or
waitress in the sky). Singing

“You Sexy Thing”
in the shower doesn’t make you
a singer or rock

star I might fall in
love with. Just because
I checked out

of the Take No Heroes Hotel
doesn’t mean
it will happen again.

All My Favorite Photos of You

for Sheri

Gone. Did the New York Subway #1
train pickpocket keep
them? I shouldn’t have kept them
all in my wallet. I wanted

some—any—scrap left
of you with me
at all times. You had been
gone only a little

over a year. I should have paced
myself. I was too young
and naïve to understand the infinite
nature of your absence. You understood

limits and functions
so much better
than I ever could. And
the symbol

for infinity could be
a pattern we used to scrape out
with our skates
on the Thornton Park Ice Rink.

Almost Thaw

She waves to the engineer
as an abbreviated freight train passes by—

heading southwest. She’s running
northeast now on snow

and slush. Could be quicksand
in spots, could be something

to complain about. But
she’s already said “hi”

to a XC skier and a couple
of women with dogs. Already made it this far

nearing the north end
of Lake of the Isles

without getting frostbitten
or falling down. May as well lean

in and call it
January bliss.

Containment

She’ll tell you
she doesn’t need
room. Let it spill

over. And she won’t be
lying. Desire
fills a different vessel

now—it comes
with wings.

May I Have My Book Back?

No longer his
birthday, she can
relax for another
364 days. If only
it were a leap
year. She might use
that extra 24 hours
to practice forgetting
who he ever was.

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,400 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 40 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.