Revision 2
We drank a tasteless Shiraz
in that trendy café on Union,
chewing words like stale bread
in a litany of root canals and laundry,
groceries and endless
soccer games.
You spoke of that place
you’d read about,
something about mangos,
some island somewhere,
which you might like to visit.
I nodded,
as always,
felt your lips
light brush.
Our kiss now faded:
a postmark on a letter
from people
we no longer knew.
In the indistinct gray light,
no particular bird was singing.
~~~
Considering Title Change: To "The Leidenfrost Effect" reason for the bump.
Revision
We drank a tasteless Shiraz
in that trendy café on Union,
chewing words like stale bread.
The sum of our equation
had become
the root canal, the laundry, the groceries,
and endless soccer games.
You spoke of that place
you’d read about,
something about mangos,
some island somewhere,
which you might like to visit.
I nodded,
as always,
felt your lips
light brush.
Our kiss now faded:
a postmark on a letter
from people
we no longer knew.
In the indistinct gray light,
no particular bird was singing.
Original
We drank a tasteless Shiraz
in that trendy café on Union,
while our mouths chewed
the words between us
like stale bread.
The sum of our equation
had become the root
canal, the laundry, the grocery list,
and endless soccer games.
You spoke of that place
you’d read about,
some island somewhere,
something about mangos—
which you might like to visit.
I nodded,
as always,
felt your lips
light brush.
Our kiss had become faded:
a postmark on a letter
from people
we no longer knew.
In the indistinct gray light,
no particular bird was singing.
We drank a tasteless Shiraz
in that trendy café on Union,
chewing words like stale bread
in a litany of root canals and laundry,
groceries and endless
soccer games.
You spoke of that place
you’d read about,
something about mangos,
some island somewhere,
which you might like to visit.
I nodded,
as always,
felt your lips
light brush.
Our kiss now faded:
a postmark on a letter
from people
we no longer knew.
In the indistinct gray light,
no particular bird was singing.
~~~
Considering Title Change: To "The Leidenfrost Effect" reason for the bump.
Revision
We drank a tasteless Shiraz
in that trendy café on Union,
chewing words like stale bread.
The sum of our equation
had become
the root canal, the laundry, the groceries,
and endless soccer games.
You spoke of that place
you’d read about,
something about mangos,
some island somewhere,
which you might like to visit.
I nodded,
as always,
felt your lips
light brush.
Our kiss now faded:
a postmark on a letter
from people
we no longer knew.
In the indistinct gray light,
no particular bird was singing.
Original
We drank a tasteless Shiraz
in that trendy café on Union,
while our mouths chewed
the words between us
like stale bread.
The sum of our equation
had become the root
canal, the laundry, the grocery list,
and endless soccer games.
You spoke of that place
you’d read about,
some island somewhere,
something about mangos—
which you might like to visit.
I nodded,
as always,
felt your lips
light brush.
Our kiss had become faded:
a postmark on a letter
from people
we no longer knew.
In the indistinct gray light,
no particular bird was singing.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson