First Storm

He's not showing up.
It's been over two months of
I really want to
I'll do my best
What do you feel,
What do you hope for?
I want to plan a trip,
I want to spend time together
to

I'll be in San Ysidro.

The other side of the continent.

The thunder explodes outside her window.
She's new here.
First storm.
Let's see if everything holds.

She'd been doing her best to ask for what she wanted but could sense a push pull from him.
You here?
I'm here.
All in.
Retract.
Apologize, explain, go ahead.
Now
It's ultimatums and irritations.
This is how I am
to
This doesn't work for me.

An object in motion stays in motion.
Until
An outside force bigger than the primary driver diverts the energy and changes the direction.
Slow down.
Patience.
Hold.
Wait-

no.

Keep going.
You do you, she says.

She wonders where expectation lives.

Three days.
That's her rule.
Get in, unpack, hang everything in it's proper place.
Energy begets energy.
Keep moving forward.
She creates a good home.
Holds space well.
Welcomes guests with open arms
And hearts and minds.

The sheers blow in, draping the ottoman like a wave cresting a rock.
For a moment she loses sight of it.
The storm shifts
And the wind sucks the sheers flat against the screen,
Revealing the ottoman for what it is.
What it was.
Ah, yes.
She can see it now.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moving in Stasis

Go. Get on that plane, that train, that bus. Walk if you have to. Swim, we've got great lakes and oceans and rivers. So many bodies of water and tracts of land to get across. Find a way, they said, just get here, soon. And so Tally packed a bag with just the essentials: a blueberry corn muffin with a shmear of cream cheese, her well worn pocket stone she rubs in her left hand, a packet of mints from the drive in theatre, and two pineapple juice boxes. A clean pair of socks, some dental floss, mom's old cigarette lighter she stole off her bureau, and twenty three dollars and eighty five cents in change. That was the heaviest part of her backpack. She wondered if she was forgetting something but her mind raced with all the things at once. Will her shoes be comfortable on the long journey? Did she feed the cockatiel before she left the house? How can she get across the ocean if the boats aren't docking in the harbour anymore? What if she runs out of money? Will Joseph be
Read more

Kindness Is A Boomerang

If he can make it off the couch to the kitchen, then he'll be up and at 'em. Movement is motion and motion is energy and like a battery, he'll recharge. Feel better. Or different. Good enough. Long nights of hourly wake ups, followed by the struggle to quiet his mind. Loop, loop, looping through endless thoughts of what if and who will and I should and maybe they'll but just go to sleep. Sleep. No tech in his room, just sleep and sex. Although physical touch has been lacking. Wanting. Week seven, but who's counting.  And that's just sheltering in place. Before that, well...seasons. The sky is bright. City living with no light pollution is like life at the cottage on Lac St Joseph. There are meteors tonight, a shower or falling or maybe it's his brain playing tricks on his eyes. Looking for things  he can't possibly see. Four missed calls. Thirteen notifications. No one he's pining for so it's a wash. Is it too late to get up... too early
Read more

Good, Not Great

She hits the down button. Two hospital admin types, young women in almost stylish outfits, the ones afforded on entry level salaries, wait on a car going up. The elevator arrives, doors open, she steps on then realizes she's going up. Force of habit, she says aloud to no one in particular, pavlovian response. The two women sort of smile as they study the floor, suddenly intensely awkward and private. She gets louder as she backs out of the car. Doors close and she hovers her finger over the already illuminated down button. Right, just did that. It's quiet here, far from the madding crowd. Emerg was busy, mainly the geriatric crew. A few indigent and drunk and disorderlies draped over chairs, hanging out of gurneys, buried under sheets and gowns, moaning, rambling incoherently. It's the large-and-in-charge paramedic night: 4 teams of doughy young men stand sentinel with their wards, buried in paperwork, bored with the hurry and up wait logjam of daily deliveries.
Read more