Sometimes I wonder_____________what

the neighbors________wonder—

do they spin “At Last” on repeat until they fall

asleep? Have husband and wife

_______________________________agreed—or one agrees

and one gives in—to a trial separation? So delirious—she

sleeps inside the dog and he sleeps on the porch—

I would like my jealousy to become our secret.

What adjustments. The air conditioning, the dog—again—who

ate the bagels?______________Please go upstairs. Please

go up the stairs—__________________Upstairs.

The villain the ghost the bad guy hides there

the suspicious noise the baseball bat under

your bed___________but what do you hope

to do with it the….______________Honey, I heard

something downstairs. Go see what it is—

This time you really aren’t_____________alone—

And sometimes you then wake in a lakehouse—

buzz of locusts, not traffic, saw blades saw

blades.___________________Vertical call of the loon,

the affect of mourning doves. We all lose

sometime. Burrow—burrow here

_______________________________and dwell.

This is the tin can. This is the root. How

you heard the glass shatter, the crowbar crack

the deadbolt________________the___the__________the had it

coming—

____________Thighs as a reward but for their fire.

Liberation is less rout than a meandering coming

to. A tensile spinning out of. Flamed with lush

horror like when a lover pats your head. It’s

not ever not over—

____________________Tomorrow and another

morning. The neighbors roll the trash bin to the curb,

wave, retreat back into their garage—holiness

of routine, of waking early to

_______________________________unlearn

love and learn it—and her—again.

Gary McDowell