Forty Years

I waited for you on the road and you found me

where it meets the driveway    a boundary as real as the dark

or maybe I was always there    just out of sight

among flowered panties   and sexy daydreams

but knew to hide out  in wait

for that whispered elan          

                   or even the moon baying a return at a tricky dog

after a spell, and like cherry trees,    you went from here to there

to grow your kids not unlike mine

the streets of lined trees compete with repurposed telephone poles

colored cells hover over a neutral background

that cued the blossoms drop

                                and mirrored back their passports

a bold sting of pine from rosemary    ever

green   and fruiting bells in flight

like birthday cakes exploding into young mouths

all the colors at once     confetti and glitter in the shag

as time tricked by

                          and traded with us    a weighted sigh

wielding a freedom with it’s fixed burden

and a spring to let us hang out as is

I walk right up to your boundary and whisper

breathy kisses

as the back of my hand traces your glow

then shifts to your smile    

                             as evidence         to the fact of you

I’d like to think we are buoyed by the wasp and jellyfish stings

or maybe it was just the rainbow spokes and handlebar pom-poms of youth 

but for sure       we hold my breast together       while staring 

at the sun spitting out between our fingers      as my creature bobs 

across a cherry wood floor                  floating atop a song

                                        pressing to be something a bit more