Of wind grabbing my hair
through the car window,
begging me to look
outside–
I’ve been here before
and though the road has been repaved,
the break inside is still shaky,
like it could reopen
with a specific jolt
of the wheels.

Walking up to the brown house,
smelling vanilla and sweat,
thumping bass,
combs in back pockets.
Chain link and clapboard siding.
Smoothing hair
then letting it fly.
Watching a turtle tread water
in a disco tank,
cupcakes awaiting frosting
on the counter.
House plants in macrame houses.
Wicker chairs and paper fans
pushing the heat around.
Plastic shoes and wooden masks,
clinging t-shirts with jelly-colored logos
rehearsing secret handshakes
with weeks left of summer.

Clarity is a soft wish
made by men with ties tied too tightly.

Where is the childlike faith
we had in flowering youth?

We’re painting ourselves
into a sterile corner,
with lay-Z boys and pop-top drinks
fizzing to drown out a din of inequity.

What about the miracle of touch
breaching pages of old rules?

Looking for light
is for gardeners and silly dreamers.

It was almost midnight
when a classic work let me down
and the mailbox waved, inciting
spider riots below the red flag.
I argued against having pizza in limbo.

This is no hipster beer commercial;
fuzz gets in the way
and clarity is a pipe dream.

Don’t tell me
with satellite technology,
you can’t make a painless mammogram
or find D.B. Cooper
(that’s hoakum!).

Ideas are free range;
flowers are burning,
and dessert smells like moth balls.

Just before slip of night,
I hear him
through whispered promise
of summer leaves
trembling under a lush moon–
let us go gently,
he says,
together, like favorite words
in a well-loved book.