By Travis Wayne Denton
She understands you can’t poke
Such a thing and whisper—
There’s no ear to yell into or kiss.
It flops in the negative
Space of her body’s curve while a glass
From last night loses its fizz.
The arm lays there like fog covering
A city park bench and slide.
She must wait, crouched
In the rushes of midnight,
Patient as a sniper, or better yet,
Like the man at the bar who hasn't taken
A woman home in a long time—
A man who loathes his computer
For its dog-like companionship.
She rolls to her back, lifts
The limb with her good arm
And places it across her chest, then,
For a moment, holds the dead hand,
And it feels like another's hand
That has reached out to pay her
Some endearment or respect.
The lights of a city bus moan
On her ceiling, and just then,
The way an idea snakes into the mind
Or a visitor enters an empty room
And soaks into the emptiness,
Waits to fill the emptiness
With creak, voice or song,
There's a pin-prick at her pointer,
An ant stops cold on her outside palm.
She clenches a fist and muscle
Memory returns.
The arm lifts and curls
The way it has before—
Wrapped around another
Or standing arm in arm,
That cold thing, the limb,
Remembering:
Like a man catching fire.
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Saturday was cool and overcast, with rain forecast that didn't arrive, though we're supposed to get a lot of it on Sunday. We had a fairly quiet morning, ate lunch early, then we went to two farms: Farrel-McWhirter Park in Redmond, which also has woods trails over a stream with fish, and Kelsey Creek Park in Bellevue, which also has boardwalks over a stream with beavers. We got to see horses, goats, sheep, bunnies, chickens, pigs, and wild ducks.
We stopped at CVS on the way home while the Orioles were beating the Rays, walked on the dock to see a new family of ducklings and many other animals, ate spaghetti for dinner, saw some of the Mariners 9-0 victory including Crawford's grand slam, and now we're watching The Fall Guy, which is mostly silly and a little too long, but Gosling and Blunt's earnestness make it enjoyable to watch, plus it has a great soundtrack and a couple of fun cameos.
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