paste me on a packet of forget me nots

you, despite hostile terrain

could raise a signal bloom

to stop the lumbering tanks.

by the kiss of your disconcerting smile

spirits snap back two and

four score 

with

sparks that rattle

two-bit  pretenders.

we wanted to keep up,

but how can cubs

with rubber band paws

compete with dashing

mama bear?

the heat in your Fiat Brava

kept death and winter

at bay.

lipstick & smoke &

juicy fruit gum,

cordovan leather

belted at the waist

I miss

your rusty laugh,

donkey/Buddha

brawl about

who gets to reveal

the secret meadows

within you

that deserve to last forever

in debt to "The Nature of Things" by Lucretius

farewell statement

while his tongue burns inflamed by poison

nothing malfunctions

that was not already 10 seconds to God.

I’ve not calibrated for his exit

so our conversations remain 

unscripted, free of the subtext which flatters

the mundane

until he loses the 

energy which he was so glad to gain, 

a pass he 

earns

to be such an asshole

as only he can turn abnormal cells

into currency.

you better hope you don’t get better.

you got people signing up to whup your ass 

the hotel lobby is technically a free place to meet

if you have at least one cousin staying the week.

your ramparts are down

and the same crusty Volvo you had since we were 18.

Google says we're just 4.3 miles from your house

and I come 1500 miles for this:

I couldn’t see

you didn’t hear

when I said I 

love you.

I heard semis sing 

in odd intervals

over your shoulder, I-75 fractured

by pine and negative space,

deciduous trees flashing leaf        

in this brief winter intervallum.    

on freshly lined blacktop

Holiday Inn Express parking lot

we shook like civilized human beings