Matt Nelson
from AN APOLOGY FOR APOLOGIES
1.
I’m sorry,
but I think I can get away.
5.
Is is too early to force
our faces into position?
We sit with our old morning split open,
watching the sparks mount the hill.
10.
I see you through the window of an F150
stalled on a frozen highway of prairie.
What am I supposed to do with this?
White lines at 0 miles per hour
waltz into the grey sky
and then the color of you.
42.
I dig my toes into the dirt
and find your love.
You found some nephew
wearing a gift
he couldn’t remember
you giving him.
You replaced the hole
and walked away.
43.
I want to take you to a party
where we dance
until everyone realizes
we’ve left.
51.
Our conversations
pivot on streams.
For example,
have you ever seen
Season 4 Episode 12
of Parenthood?
Mrs. Braverman shaves
her post-chemo head
and I wish I were her clippers.
I wish I could work
so well emotionally
58.
IT’S MY TURN,
I’m saying to no one,
my mother on the other line.
A dial tone
in her ear
is her final sacrament,
is a dress not meant
for any temperature other than pine’s.
Ask me to quit it like it’s a date.
59.
Yes it’s raining out there,
and yes the fireworks are going off,
but maybe they’re warning us.
Something’s wrong
with the light.
90.
Life is telling a person,
The ferry is actually
one block that way,
and, The lights
have been doing this
strange thing.
The only way
to truly explain
is to show you.
94.
There is nothing like a place you don’t want to be,
especially when you run out of track.