Duet

 

Drunk and young

Past midnight

I-10 south

Phoenix to Guadalupe

To your parents’ fifth wheel

 

Fleeing Minder Binders

Speed limit breaking

Tractor trailer headlight glare

Billboard lawyer overseers

Open desert desolation

 

Radio dissipation crackle

You goad me to sing back up

A Beatles song I cannot recall

 

Your flowers of mania bloom

You lack rhythm, melody, and pitch

I sing in the shower

We are a sad duet

 

 

“You’re gonna lose that girl”

“Yes, yes your gonna lose, that girl.”

Ironic and clueless

We had none to lose

 

We had midnight rambles

A parentless refuge at a fifth wheel

A wailing road of smeared imagery

Winsome wishes to keep going

 

Further south

The desperate highway parallels

Slow thunder freight trains

Stacked high without end

 

To Mexico

A borderline

Mystical and terrifying

A dream

A promise never kept

A Ham and Egg Day

 

At the bus stop

I kiss my grandson goodbye

I stay at the crossroads

The squeal of brakes already a memory

I study the grey pillows

Of the unkempt bed above

 

A feather sways down

Trips along the pavement

Light rain grows assertive as I walk

Wet dog follows me into my casita

Tries to take my sock outside

 

I get a slice of leftover ham

Flip two eggs,

Slather butter on toast

Make a cup of coffee

Stronger than the first

 

Like the weather

My plans for the day are indefinite

I ponder the lost feather

From an unseen bird

 

The ham is salty

The eggs underdone

They pair well

With the dry throated roar

Of my grandson toward higher learning

 

My daughter is in the north country

Won’t be home until evening

She will drive winding mountain roads

Rockslides and blinding rain are possible

 

I am glad of sure things

Ham and eggs, strong coffee

After all this living

Taste buds are dulled

Another twist

From the pepper mill

Would not hurt