The tomatoes hang eaten.
Some rodent, maybe.
The cayenne doesn't work,
just burns the air I breathe.
Knees swell.
The doctor?
I haven’t called.
This is the small life
we once smirked at.
Summer again.
No mercy.
Too much.
Too bright.
Lately, I forget:
the grigio in the freezer
the last message,
why I opened the drawer.
I drop things now.
Envelopes. Keys.
A glass once,
the sound too big
for the room.
My grip loosens
without permission.
You said,
That’s what old looks like.
But you didn’t get here.
We stay.
We wait.
For mail.
For quiet.
For a name to light the screen.
For the neighbor’s dog
to stop barking
at nothing.
Oceanside,
in shopfront glass,
I glimpse my portrait—
eyes angry, narrowed
against the glare,
shirt caught on wind.
And I ache,
to be so
briefly
here.
Jun 24, 2025
Jun 24, 2025 at 9:32 PM UTC
The tomatoes hang eaten.
Some rodent, maybe.
The cayenne doesn't work,
just burns the air I breathe.
Knees swell.
The doctor?
I haven’t called.
This is the small life
we once smirked at.
Summer again.
No mercy.
Too much.
Too bright.
Lately, I forget:
the grigio in the freezer
the last message,
why I opened the drawer.
I drop things now.
Envelopes. Keys.
A glass once,
the sound too big
for the room.
My grip loosens
without permission.
You said,
That’s what old looks like.
But you didn’t get here.
We stay.
We wait.
For mail.
For quiet.
For a name to light the screen.
For the neighbor’s dog
to stop barking
at nothing.
Oceanside,
in shopfront glass,
I glimpse my portrait—
eyes angry, narrowed
against the glare,
shirt caught on wind.
And I ache,
to be so
briefly
here.
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