In the elevator
I spotted an empress
and I would priest for her,
doctor her pains,
soldier her wars;
I would do many,
mighty things
all within the span of
30 seconds
-then she was gone
and things returned to
as they were.
I drove through Mennonite country
past sleeping tractors
and unmanned booths selling
flowers and firewood.
I entered the campground
and smiled broadly at the
over-excited blonde who still
didn’t know where the ice-box was
or how to open it when she did.
I drove down to the docks beside the beach.
I pulled my car right up to a picnic table
and cleaned off a public grill that was so
rickety you had to battle with it
even to get out a few decent burgers.
Chicken was out of the question.
Trust me, I tried
-unless you like them burned and raw at the same time
only in different places.
I was enjoying my time
shirtless and smiling
in the evening sunset
when a woman came down the road with a small boy
and looked to the beach
then looked over at me.
Which way was she going to go
I wondered as I sipped my beer.
The road swung wide around where I was
so she decided to cut across the grass
the opposite way
right towards me.
“Ha!” I said to the grill.
It said nothing back.
I watched the woman come.
The evening sunlight painted her like a brush
as she walked like a queen
eyes like thrones.
Magnificence in a summer dress.
She was a poem, a painting, a motion picture.
A face to rule your heart
stared at mine with azure eyes
you could sail across towards
nothing if you wanted to -didn’t matter.
It was hopeless.
I was besotted.
It’s happened before.
It’ll happen again.
Most people only fell in love
a couple of times.
I fell in love every damn day.
Come play. Come play.
Take my heart, it’s yours.
Play with it. It’s okay if you drop it or
break it.
I don’t care. I don’t care.
I am strong. I can fix it. I can take it.
I just need to know
from that look in your eyes
for one moment like this
that you would
let me in that you would
have me and I could continue
on
smiling laughing loving
you from right here
so far away
so close.
She was right in front of me now.
The burgers were burning.
Fuck them.
Her eyes still watched me.
I could tell she was demure.
Classy. I could picture her laughing
into her tea glass in a lavish garden
hitting me with a pillow
kissing my ear
“Hello.” She said.
“Hello.” I answered, smiling.
She smiled and turned away.
The boy waved sheepishly.
I waved back.
‘Do yourself a favour, Kid.’ I thought.
‘Grow up strong and go out and fight
for somebody that’s as worthy as your mother.’
I returned my attention back to the grill
and started whistling as I flipped the burgers.
A girl soon came down the road
far too young for me
they usually were
these days.
She looked to the beach
then looked over at me.
Which way was she going to go
I wondered as I sipped my beer.
The road swung wide around where I was
so she decided to cut across the grass
the opposite way
right towards me.
“Ha!” I said to the grill.
It said nothing back.
It was -26C out.
I had turned the key twice but my car wouldn’t start.
It would just growl a little then die.
I gave it a dirty look.
It started.
I drove across a city
covered in ice as brittle as glass
and snow turned hard as stone
screaming along to a rap song I hated
but knew the words to anyways.
I passed a kid who had his tongue stuck to a pole.
His was frantically waving his arms about.
I gave him the finger and hit the gas.
I laughed. He looked like a penguin
except that he was holding a cellphone.
There you go, Buddy. Don’t need your tongue to
text your way out of this one.
Text, Motherfucker, text!
I got to her house and barged in wearing a squirrel.
Putting beers in the fridge I wondered why
it was cold as my ex’s dead heart inside
when she came down wearing a parka without pants
because nothing about her made sense
except her legs.
“I have baseboard heating. It’s too expensive.” She said.
I turned on the sink
hoping for some hot water to splash into my numbed face
but the pilot light must have been off because
it came out colder than glacier run-off in Alaska.
North Alaska.
I thought that it could have been
another money saving device.
What the fuck, was she a penguin too?
Penguins, they were everywhere…they were watching me.
I knew her for ten years.
We’ve only fucked twice
and that made me inexplicably sad
all of a sudden
so I cracked open a tall can.
“Really?” She said. “It’s 10AM.”
“Best to get an early start.”
“Why do you always drink?”
“It helps me face the absolute terror of every day.”
“So, you’re a coward is what you’re saying.”
Women were always on the attack with me.
They hated me secretly and used everything about me
against me with relative ease and the reason
that I hung out with them more than other guys
was because I was the biggest fucking masochist on the planet.
“Jesus, is EVERYTHING cold around here?” I shouted
then gulped the thing down.
‘Oh, that’s nice.” I said.
She laughed. “At least your beer is cold.”
“Yes, it is.” I said. “You are so maddeningly beautiful when you’re disappointed in me. Do you have any perks?”
She smiled, turned around and opened a cupboard.
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