Variations

Parade 39,5 x 49,5 cm acryl/scratchmarks on linen

WITHOUT YOU

Just when I thought I

had you pegged

pigeon holed

identified in the

line up

you pirouette

out the door into a new life.

You pointed out   

that a preposition should not

bring up the rear of a sentence

right before what the Brits call a “full stop.”

Which is what you did. You stopped fully.

Or sprinkling cheese over the beans

as they simmered

cutting the onions and tomatoes

filling the wraps with all of it. And sour cream.

And a handful of regrets. And a

half-baked philosophy of life.

And a bunch of questions tied off at the top

we’d rather keep uncooked, rotting at the back of the fridge.

I felt like an army standing at parade rest beneath the trees

and yet at peace

with our warlike natures.

All of those ingenious transitions

into other ways of being different

I would never have thought of without you.