Summer '96

Words: hip-roofed, decant, summer, housecoat, footrub, ashtray, lilac, interruption, insurance, platform

This was written in fall, 2000 without the 30 minute limit. It was the early inspiration for my 10 in 30 poems.

Summer '96

The summer we lived in the
Hip-roofed house by the highway,
I worked two jobs, one as a temp
For an insurance company and
One as a dancer, so that
He could finish recording
His second CD without the
Interruption of employment.

Once after a particularly
Rough night at my platform
Job, I returned home to find him
Sitting, feet-up, and watching
Dateline re-runs while decanting
Brandy from flask to glass and
Flicking ashes over the couch I bought.

"Since when did you perceive
Permission to sit around like
My grandmother at the old folks
Home, waiting in her housecoat
For her next feeding or footrub?"
I demanded, hoping for a fight
Or a fuck or both.

He squinted at me like the lilac
Eyed hero of an action flick
As he crushed his cigarette
Into the ashtray his niece made
For him in her art class and said
"Come here baby." And to his
Embrace I succumbed.

Meanwhile, others are playing
Basketball at the 24-hour Y on 38th,
Or dancing to disco covers
At that club on College, or
Planning their shopping lists
During midnight bouts of insomnia,
While waiting for their lovers
To roll over and kiss them
On the back of their neck before
Drifting off to sleep again.