Roller Coaster

Michael tells me

dating is like a roller coaster

fun – but a lotta ups and downs

 

*

 

while at dinner

the glowing thing in my pocket

coyly whirs against my thigh

and a person I have met once

now thousands of miles away

has sent me parts of her body

we used to whisper about at sleepovers

 

*

 

Dan tells me about his wife

uses words like happiness

without caveat

or attached guru

 

but still cannot help asking about

what it must be like

to discover a whole body

to gently approach the shore

of a willing continent

that does not ask to build a shelter

 

*

 

I wake up next to a body

we chant words

that sound mostly like

I am not lonely now

 

now clothed

she says plainly

I have some other errands to run

& I think on the small cruelty of the word other

 

*

 

my family & I visit Disneyland

I ride the coaster

I was too young for as a child

 

I think less

about the brightly colored cars

charging up toward the sky

& racing down toward the ground

 

more than audible thrill

as we come

quickly around some corner

we cannot see past

 

but even more, the muted shuffling

as we exit

remembering to not leave

anything important behind

 

the quiet

as we turn our back

wondering where to go next

 

I think I am ready to go home

my sister says

 

I nod

 

 

Phil Kaye in Date & Time