The Poetry Marathon

I’ve held on to you

sometimes only in dreams.

Once you rode a child’s train

that travelled in repeated circles.

Every time you passed me,

you forgot me a little more.

I faded away from your mind.

I was afraid that this

would happen in real life.

When I saw you after

four and a half years apart,

we hugged and you pressed

my head to your heart.

The tracks of a train

couldn’t diminish

the impressions I made.

Salt on tomato

guilty pleasure admitted

to her heart doctor

I had some crazy requirements:

had to combine Shakespeare and hillbilly

had to have recessive gene pinkies

had to be taller than me

I tried to set myself

up for failure

thought a man with

my specifications

couldn’t possibly exist.

You had Shakespeare’s birthday

and loved tractor pulls.

We had the same

outward turned pinkies

which are supposed to be

extremely rare.

You’re 6’5” to my 5’4”.

You do exist but

now in a world

separate from mine

You rushed in,

toppled me over-

a fast-paced tide

taking out a beach umbrella

I was drowning,

breathless, full of adrenaline

fighting to stay alive,

struggling to keep

my head above it all

Just as quickly

as you appeared,

you were gone.

The tide retreating

back into the ocean,

only the sting

of salt

left in a wound

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