"Sunset Cruise"
By Mike Paszak
Sun setting,
turbo spinning.
Red light stop,
race the block.
Ocean breeze,
before the midnight freeze.
One last cruise
before winter's bruise.
Time to head home,
watch the gnome.
Gear up for storage,
don't need a mortgage.
Sun setting,
turbo spinning.
"Cars interest me, and I'm familiar with the transition between fall and winter. This sparked my interest to write this poem."
* * * * * * * * * *
"Laundry"
By Ocie Kilgus
Tomorrow you leave for Florida,
and tonight, in Kansas, as you sleep
I'm doing your laundry.
I say it over and over,
letting the thought pile up for the bleak and sunless days ahead.
I'm doing your laundry,
a longing of mine still,
but now one pregnant with loss.
I know the years of doing your laundry are over,
so I'm savoring this night,
watching my hands do what they've always done.
I iron the creases from a pair of pants
that probably were meant to have creases.
I snap them
slowly
and fold one overly starched leg to another,
smoothing them out with sad hands.
I tuck one sock into another,
remembering how you used to tuck one hand into mine.
By midnight I have a mannequin of you here
in front of me, beside me, around me, with me.
I take in this image of you, embodied by all this laundry,
and I hug these clothes as if I were hugging you,
wondering if my hands and eyes and life
will again be this lucky to see this much of you.
I'm not ready to give you up,
so I wonder if you'll miss the shirt
that I've kept behind
to console me when you're gone.
"For Sydney."
