Again this morning
Pewter skies envelopes
My color like
A washcloth absorbing
Fresh blood leaving
Me a ghostly
Pallor of grey
Everything is muted
Like school children
Shushed by nuns
Hoping for the
Sun’s recess allowing
Glee and abandonment
Yet here I
Lay staring up
At gray grey
Much less than
Gay this day
It’s a look
Cast off as
A glance that
Lingers a moment
Too long it’s
A joke that
Catches you off
Guard and the
Laughter erupts after
A few seconds
Of thinking it’s
A smile that
Is broader than
The biggest sloppy
Cheeseburger and that
One evidently embarrassing
Snort of giggling
That is freshness
Life’s little miracle
As storms pass
And lightening sparks
Like flashlights in
Dark forests thunder
Booms like hammers
On bass drums
And then there
In the aftermath
Of nature’s artillery
Comes the sweet
Sullen rain pattering
On pavement bouncing
Like little acrobats
And if you
Listen very closely
You can even
Hear a weeeeeeee
You know that
You’re over it
Finally when all
Those special things
Become normal things
Once again like
Cleaning a chalkboard
Allowing now new
Normal things to
Become special things
With someone else
When you approach
And foreheads touch
The beads of
Breathy humidity hangs
Like tiny clouds
Plump with rains’
Longing and desire
And right before
Our lips touch
I whisper into
Your open mouth
Kiss me like
You mean it
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 