did you feel it though?
when the backs of your teeth were numb and
sparkling? when Paul Simon sang we all shall be received
in Graceland? when the river clouds grazed the land like the cows
in Kansas? the gas station toothbrushes
liquor store baseball caps blown out railroad bridges
blackbirds murmurating over the semis
the burning bottomland the dives with no dancing
you were told no matter what make sure whoever is stuffing your parachute isn’t
wasted the man in a captain’s hat holding the rim
of a trashcan with both hands like he was steering the ship of Memphis
the devil in a red dress and wire framed glasses
getting into her Uber outside the bar
the blue rooms where we held each other
snow geese over Atlanta at night like a lot of loosed gossamer
I woke up crying you woke up screaming
both of us reticently ripped into our lives
two beach front promises at the edge of an evaporating reservoir
it’s so hard to want everything I don’t know if I ever will again