Two Tickets Please
I can make it through any sad movie, when your arm is there to shush my shaky legs, with its scent of aloe vera and love.
I can make it through any sad movie, when your arm is there to shush my shaky legs, with its scent of aloe vera and love.
And on those long drives
Flying down the interstate
The sun setting before me
Hand out the window,
I’ll think of you
And I’ll let it soak in,
Before I let the wind
Carry you away,
Until next time
today I let my nose bleed
This was our park she thought, this isn’t how it should be
it started with the land
men love to own land
he drew circles made of gunpowder
around the people
land ancestral land
he said step on the crack
I’ll break your child’s body
he drew circles of gunpowder
closer and closer to the sea
then it was the sea
men love to own the sea
by hand and one at a time
he poisoned every fish
and carved holes in every boat
he said God loved my people
for them he parted the waves
let’s see what he does
for the damned
the sea did not part
but became red all the same
once the sea was red with blood
the man lamented gunpowder circles
and poison fish
but they refuse to die
and the man turned his face to the sky
from the sky comes rain
from the sky comes the dove
with sprigs of green in its beak
from the sky come manna
and quail
I must own the sky
so he filled the sky with fire
struck down the healers
and the hope
burned up all aid
and blocked the sun with smoke
he sang choke choke choke
one day someone told him
the sky is too vast you cannot own it
he looked them in the eye and said
then, stop me
from that day forward he waged war
on anyone who said he could not own the sky
one day God said to him my son
you do this violence in my name
but it does not honor me
so the man waged a war on God
and the holy people
of every nation and tongue
tore their garments
wore ashes and sackcloth
and begged god to strike him down
but God did not strike him down
and now the man owned the sky
above his land
above his sea
and people started to wonder
if perhaps he was a god himself
so they let him wage his righteous war
amen and let it be so
I wasn’t meant to call you every week,
but you promised to take me thrifting.
You weren’t meant to drive four hours each way to visit me
but you were invited to my bonfire.
We weren’t going to be in each other’s weddings
but we were supposed to share at least a few more triple dippers.
We weren’t meant to have forever,
but we were supposed to have one more summer.
She sets down the knife
opens her arms
narrows the world
a warm shoulder
hand stroking my back
a kiss on the scalp
she asks if it’s all better
not quite, I say
but at least you’re here with me
