Question asked by Marne Wilson
A terrible day’s the one we won’t see coming.
It doesn’t slap us around; it silences
shrill cries of those finding us absent
from our tender boxes.
Happy or unhappy days
are all a man can bless or curse us with,
null days more likely as we sit,
numbed by space between our eyes &
the TV. Maybe we’ll smell grilled cheese
sizzling in a nearby kitchen,
then perk up, though hunger waits
for us to fade our moods.
Next, a doe dashes through the yard,
trailed by two fawns speckled like
photonegatives of still-life
with chocolate-chip cookies.
That’s what I wish for you, friend:
a three-deer day with grilled cheese &
baked goods, even if that was
yesterday, the same again tomorrow.
It means the terrible never found you:
you scuffed your bike but survived your
Snake River Canyon jump, felt energized
with thrill, even if you broke a bone or two.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 20, Issue 1.
Ace Boggess is the author of two books of poetry: The Prisoners (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2014) and The Beautiful Girl Whose Wish Was Not Fulfilled (Highwire Press, 2003). He currently resides in Charleston, West Virginia.
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