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Caught in the Headlights of a
Deer So I took a walk, my Converse All-Stars out in front, and each step kept me that much closer to myself; the wind was solid, as January air will often be, and a distant engine hummed in the slicing breeze; my eyes fixed on the wavy, grey patterns in the pavement, then returned to the darkness looming beyond the trees; then last night I changed my mind and didn’t take that walk, my Chuck Taylor high-tops stinking just the same.
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Breathing Does it let you breathe When you see the oak dresser We found by the old highway Or the warped headboards on The bed where we slept Does it let you breathe When you hear the Traffic songs That once filled our empty rooms Or songs of George Gershwin We played twice a year Does it let you breathe When you smell the ocean wind As it drifts through Georgia pines Or the mountain rain that Fell upon the tin roof Does it let you breathe When you taste the Absolut That put me to bed at night Or the Maxwell House coffee That welcomed each new day II I hold my breath tight As I leap from the old dock Where we kept our schooner berthed And search the silted bottom For pieces of us My sides cramp with pain As I find the silver frame From that smiling wedding day, And I bring it to the dock To set it upright My jeans are like lead As I return to the sea, Chilled and weighted by the past, And just beyond my reach lurks The idol I seek My lungs stretch and bend As I search the hallowed bay, Heaving and aching to burst, Filling with saltwater to Take my breath away.
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Midnighting What is the sound Of one ear ringing The smell of one nun singing Apples in the winter The feelings that keep us Upside out the cool near misses the gear shift drives the apple sauce stays in the pan What is the sound Of one ear calling The scent of one nun falling Apples in the trash bin The failings that sweep us Inside down the fool undresses the night shift lies the apple sauce stays in the pan
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Phil Rice can be reached at this link:
the editor |
