(LOL)
Catch/Release
Midnight madness has reached a goal
Betty grew her wings of gold.
“It’s about flying,” she said
Told Tom about wintry presses:
Crumbling rain is as easy as ever
He stepped outside to confirm her story
Instead, he caved in and relapsed
Betty was fluttering close by
“Haven’t I been telling you off those little
paper twigs you keep burning?”
“Yes, and you keep forgetting to do so, too.”
“Fine!”
She lowered herself to the ground,
Reaching out for his free hand.
Tom looked silver, sullen even.
He was painfully thin and unusually thick.
She was almost invisibly white.
“Tom, did I ever tell you that hay grew blue
on trees - there on the other side of the hill?”
“Eh. It doesn’t matter.”
“What does then?”
“Everything and nothing, really. Like those
pink flecks of air which keep getting caught
in the tractor’s machine.”
She shrugged; Betty was in a drunken daze.
His gaze steadily lingered on her before he spoke.
“I don’t like those things on your back.
Have them cut off. Midnight only comes once.”
Caught in a segued flow of charm and disbelief,
She drew her head near.
“I’m going to visit the stars tonight, join me?”
It was the closest to a whisper she could manage.
“The stars will be there tomorrow and the day
after that. I’d rather be at the meadow,
where hiding is essential and noted.”
“Then, to the meadow it is. Tall grasses are
never outdated.”
Charcoaled paths burned until embers turned ashen.
Moonlight caused a silent stir among bizarre travelers
“Flower pots hold wishes. There may be hundreds,
filled to the rim, even when reality presses for them
to never materialize,” Betty proclaimed.
“You say that but you keep taking them home.
Now, you’re overfull with songs you forget to play.”
He picked up the button that fell off his jacket.
Told Betty about powdered reasons:
Like chalk dust falling when you erase hastily.
“Everyone turns stale, Betty. It’s inevitable.”
“But -“
“I told you to have those cut,” he repeated.
With coat tails and cocktail glasses, she dissipated.
Bejeweled bicycles turn the corner and crash.
It was a passing phase, much too sober for the taste.
o4o2o8_o5