Poems by Mary Fons
cliff hanger: for norma. the wind is straight out of nashville tonight/balmy enough to conjure you up but the keeper of a breeze that knocks you out of my life as soon as the heat gets the dimensions right. where are you now. i have reason to believe you are in a motel in kentucky/i have reason to belive you are alone/i have reason to believe you don’t answer your phone anymore/because characters from all your former lives are too angry or to distant for you to cradle against your ear. when you were a girl/you were scrappy at best/i know because you told me all this/you fought in the parking lot/defending the turf of a teenage mob boss/you stuck razor blades in the plaits of your braids for to slice the hands of your opponent/burned your 4” nails into talons with a lighter/5 crows at the end of each arm/you coated your face with Vaseline so those bitches would slide right off/you hollered and spat and won/but wars like that turn inward/and battles become meaner still when you hit middle age and aren’t as quick as you were at 16/dreams and loans are deferred and turn delinquent/regrets and creditors come calling/wanting what you don’t have/though if anyone could squeeze money or joy from a stone/you’re the one. it was here that i found you/we were each other’s biggest fan/who was who’s sidekick when it came to crimson lipstick on white russians/we turned mild-mannered tuesday nights into monster truck pulls and considered hangovers “regrouping sessions”/we hit hotel bars with purpose and direction/”how’s my hair looking”/fabulous/”how’s my face holding up”/divine/we cackled and cursed in taxicabs and ordered a round for scheherezade every time/she was always good for a laugh but never finished her glass/that’s what friends are for/”thanks darlin’/i’ll help you with that”/a carton of misty 100’s later we still weren’t tired/so unto the morning we slumped/delirious but only half full of remorse/you took half of mine/i carried half of yours. where are you now. i made a 1000 bad decisions when you were around/they live in my body still/here/onboard this calmer ship/these days for a thrill on a friday night/you might find me enjoying an apple/on saturdays i might mop the floor/i haven’t lost my edge/but i don’t live on it anymore/and tonight/when the wind is from tennessee like it so often is with me /i think of you fondly/with a cluck and a shudder and a shake of my head/if you’re still that wild/you’re probably dead/but if you’re not/and like me you slid through the closing door/like some physics-defying action hero/moments before the room went up in flames/seconds before all was lost/if you’re not gone forever/stuck in kentucky with one bag perpetually packed/come back/and we’ll turn this mother out again/girl/just softer this time. what once made us happy can do so again/we just have to think bigger/we just have to not try so hard/scheherezade. |