Some people just know
He’s one for me
Knows where to land
Both tickle and punch
Not that he’s quick
Or even very precise
But I lower hands
And expose my flesh
And off he goes
Playing whack a mole
With my outstretched chin
And my naked feet
And oh of course
My heart and mind
He’s naturally my boo
My corner man too
There comes a time
In every man’s life
When growing from sapling
To tree from trying
To doing and from
Student to teacher only
He knows when it’s
Time to push out
To bud then shade
And eventually fall only
To start over again
Until he becomes something
Else a door floor
Or even a memory
Stuck in the middle
Between hither and nigh
Rock and hard place
The present and past
Squeezed in vices jaws
You simply can’t breathe
There’s that thing over
There that once was
Sweet comfortable and succulent
But has now soured
And this thing here
Plump exciting and promising
Cautious teasing and playful
Turning away from one
And towards the other
Causes a hearts thunderstorm
Cold and warm fronts
Colliding and me the
Kansas town hunkering down
Hoping for the best
There was certainly before
And then there was
When and now there’s
Now and tomorrow might
Be coming but love
Is like water itself
Sometimes rain sometimes monsoon
And the heart a
Creek bed capable hardly
Always able to handle
The deluge of storms
Breaking banks tearing apart
Leaving waste and destruction
Until at last time
Redefines what was once
And just when my
Waterproofing dried in comes
Another trickle where’d that
Come from following the
Winding wetness I see
An open window a
Photograph loosely taped to
The side of some
Other obscure memory slumping
To the humid concrete
Of my hearts basement
I admit I’m doomed
The water will win
He will always find
A way to remind
Me that he was
Once here still is
And always will be
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 