.
~~~~~~2020~~~~~~
~~~~FEBRUARY~~~~
First Date
Rudolf Klassen
not first
just first
in a long time
right necklace
for the neckline
cleavage catches
his gaze
he double shaves
no stubble burns
old spice man smell
tonight
at
dinner they sit touching
side by side
black fingernail
on his skull ring finger
her lipstick vampire dark
tonight
young and dangerous
again
.
~~~~JANUARY~~~~
Resurfacing
F.J. Bergmann
It took you all day to get there, false exit
after false exit, then the deserted parking lot
and the paths that kept petering out or circled
back to where you swore you’d already been.
Trees were casting longer, thicker shadows,
like malignant barricades. You headed for
the sound of rushing water, but the distant
buzz faded in and out, finally gone. Surely
the cool gorge, echoing drips and splashes,
could not have eroded or filled in so soon.
Where has the green rug of moss and fern
gone? How many years has it been, exactly?
How many decades. A swamp stretches out,
dark as a bruise, the skeletal pines mostly
amputees by now. Past the fidgeting reeds,
the sun says goodnight; pink clouds flail
like hands turning red behind the woods.
In cooling twilight, the marsh bubbles.
Something enormous moves underwater,
frog or fish waiting to disgorge the ring
you threw away so long ago. You don’t
want it back, but a wet bulk is sloshing
through the cattails and you know who
it is—and you don’t want to know why.
This isn’t love. This isn’t regret. You run,
but brambles, berryless, surround you,
and no path is marked by pebble or crumb.
This isn’t where you thought you’d come.
.
.
x ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ x
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.
Subsynchronous Press 2020
.

thanks!
Only you, Gary, can spin a tale of the mydterious Arizona wilderness. Great write.
Dear Gary: Thanks for sharing these great poems. Keep ’em coming! Suzy
Thanks Gary Keep ’em coming! Suzy
Good company here. NIce to be aboard. JP Kincaid