& there is no hope for Bethany  

We spend our summer mornings drinking peppermint tea
Then picking apples from ornamental orchards.
At mid-day we share
Strawberries and giggles and embraces,
Then Autumn falls

And we wear sweaters and kick at leafy beds.

So I ask Bethany:
What should my new name be?
And she says,
Shakespeare Mozart da Vinci.
I tell her that she's silly
And there's no hope for her.

Next summer--drought.
Then angry fire flies.
Speechless, sun burnt lips
Silent limericks
And technicolor swirling patterns
Projected behind my eyes.
Then weariness and listlessness and indifference.
Dancing fires slow
Singing stars dismissed--
Cursed with this blue collar life,
And dollar store incense sticks.

So I call up Bethany--and it's been awhile--
She's married and pregnant and happy.
I tell her I'm ok, and I'm sorry--
For all those times the summer sun was shinning
And I stayed in.
For all those times the hole inside me opened up
And I fell in--
She laughs. Tells me she loves me,
Now that I've found my
Brandless new name.

© 2006  Jefferson Lavender