Frozen Embrace

ICE KISS

Between 8:45 and 10pm,
just another gray day,
sitting cold alone,
waiting for the fog
to drop misty down
through the ghost alders
suspended over this drafty mobile
that I have tried
to call home.

Happy
that the pipes thawed out yesterday,
but unhappy
that I spent so much of the day
staring at a silent phone,
trying to imagine
what you may have created
for your feastive meal.

I had a bologna sandwich and chili,
As I wondered further
just how you would present Duggan
with his poem
of termination;
and of how he would react.

Or maybe you didn't,
maybe you couldn't,
maybe some friends called
and you left with them
seeking sanctuary.

I know
that I will be given the truth of it
soon,
but until then,
fear will ride on my shoulders
as I stride toward Shelton,
hoping that this will be
the last Christmas
that both of us are forced
to embrace
a mouth of ice.

For we are warm-blooded
dreamers,
and we have earned
the right to choose
happiness.


Glenn Buttkus 1990