And so we
Huddled like players
In ball games
Deciding our next
Move like champion
Chess playing adversaries
Out it came
Like a cork
From a bottle
Pop spray fizz
Stinging like the
Biting fire ants
Of early summer
Over and out
Crackling like far
Off radio talk
I dreamt a
Dream of a
Past lover glee
And good times
Like looking at
Yellowed photographs when
I realized that
People only take
Pictures of happiness
Far away you
Are on a
Quest slaying the
Dragons of stress
Relaxing near water
Like sunning sea
Lions marooned with
Sweating umbrella drinks
Reclining you forget
Until my face
Appears like an
Apparition in an
Ice cube reminding
You that you
Belong here with
Me
In checkers you’re
One of two
Things you move
The same whichever
One you are
In chess you’re
One of one
Thing you move
The same depending
What you are
When did we
Switch games making
Labeling me one
Thing and restricting
My movement rather
Than being free
To be me
And talk we
Did like birds
On a wire
This discovery of
Each other like
Scouring a crime
Scene for clues
Led from one
Topic to another
Like hunting dogs
Catching one scent
After the next
Drilling down we
Did taking pebbles
Of life out
Of each other
Like the augers
Of natural attraction
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 