He used to buy the paper and read it with her,
Used to smoke Lucky Strikes and drink Mt. Dew
in the mountains at night, jaws aching
from some three day weekend trip.
She used to sting like gasoline tipped lipstick
with the dry dust glaze of sleep across her eyes.
She used to drink too much coffee and fumble through
Mad Libs puzzles trying to forget about her hangover.

They used to set their neighbors lawn chairs on fire
and eat acid and go to cathedrals and sneak into
museum basements after a day or two of fasting.
Used to smoke entirely too much and never seem to
sleep in enough.

Too many bills and credit slips and financial aid notices
left unpaid.
Stacks of letters seventeen miles high used to line the doors.
Sometimes these stacks were used as chairs.

He used to twist her smile in corkscrew limerick
around his similes and she would simply smile
and make dinner. And the pumpkin ale stayed cold
in the refrigerator even when the rent and electric
were both two weeks over due.

Used to put pictures of the beach in the shower
until the tacks got rusty or the tape got dull and the pictures
ran off in chunks chasing towards the drain.
Seems like all those beaches really all
got washed into oblivion, clogged up in weekend visits
and alimony payments signed a little too neatly.

interesting piece

really great visuals that stick to the walls and
keep expanding, even after one finishes the read

enjoyed this

The world is so wide open to you ...

The road that lies in front of you will take you where ever you fancy and DARE to go/grow ...

Time is stacking, twist it to your advantage ...

Surf the unkempt waves ...

makes you want to keep reading.....

you make it seem so effortless...

Loved the images painted beautifully in ink and imagination ... I saw ... I felt ... the subtlety and contradictions ring long after the reading like the note of a bell that seems to hang in the air forever on a sub-zero night...

Yes, it does make you want to keep reading. Thanks PP