Going overboard again,
overdramatizing,
forgetting there are limits
to what people can take,
how they don’t want to hear it,
not in a restaurant
or ever,
all the fool convictions, thinking
she can fix things,
hoping again, when all we want
is to be left alone
He spoke and I listened
every time there and back
We wore
a deep path of memory
through the war and
subsequent years –
clockmaker stories,
composers,
my house and his
I could see mine
across the street
How far do you let it go
before you reel it back in?
And how big is exactly
the fish you’re trying to catch?
And how smart and strong are you?
And can you swim?
I walked a metaphysic of trust,
that line of no width we posited at school.
There were no buildings on either end,
but you didn’t need them.
Once you could get
from a point to a line,
the rest was easy.
Planes rose to welcome your feet.
Of the family
when everyone was still there –
brass-knuckle voices, the ball game,
lawn chairs and drinks
with maraschino cherries –
“You jackass! No wonder
he walked away” –
barbecue sauce black
and two outs for the closer –
another win for the Cubs
in an otherwise winless year
Utrecht Journal 