Friday, December 18, 2015

YOU: 5-liners, based on memories and paintings


you brought the picnic basket
peach schnapps and chocolate biscuits
the ocean was thundery
soon after
i flew home to america


you wear your long hair draped
across your shoulders
like a bolt of crimson silk
strangers want to touch it
you brush their hands away


you bragged that your grandfather
invented the egg carton
i said
my grandpa sharpens pencils
with his teeth


you transform sonnets 
into lullabies
singing me to sleep
with shakespeare and
edna st. vincent millay


you never leave home without your 
red pocketbook
a clean hankie
and two stamped unaddressed postcards
prepared for any emergency


you are a dog person
i prefer goldfish
we spend a lifetime
noting our differences
and incompatibilities