Flight CO 685

Bill from outside Salem
rubbed my sprained foot
leaning in close
whiskey breath
and bloody marys

showed me his "cats:"
6 tattoos on his forearms
bragged about his son
with no college education
making $18 an hour

when a baby cried
seven rows ahead
he held his hand in the air
and rubbed his thumb against
the pads of his fingers
"you gotta rub his ear"
to soothe his pain

Bill called me Emerald
because he couldn't remember Emily

he told me the man I was drifting from
had different feelings too
that it isn't my fault.

Oh

out of order
cover of clovers
plovers for lovers

spool of coiling wool
spoils
of lost over
tossed out
crossed out words

chords of coarse notes
dissolving resolve
coated nocturnes
of hallowed hours
ocher colored cuckhold

flowers gone sallow
sour
coals gone cold
overcome.

one am

walking out of the subway
she holds her bags in the crook of her arm
wrist limp
hoping someone will notice

this part of her
is delicate.