by Daniel Stormont, Lake Michigan College Student
In The Moment
*
I’m riding passenger, we go under the stop light on Main
past the gas station where my friend Donny worked as a kid
when Jenny asks me if I’m okay, I grit my teeth at the Dollar General
thinking this lot used to be my Uncle Mary’s farmhouse
Am I okay seems like a funny question in the moment Rite Aid
has one of those Santa guys with a bell out front Am I okay? Is Santa
okay? He looks cold
*
My Jenny is a good wife, she worries about me
the kids the stress of her job, she stops at the light I smell McDonald’s
she looks at me while Lou Reed sings Perfect Day she asks if everything is
going to be okay
should she worry? Today is Tuesday. She wipes the windshield
on the inside I tell her everything will be fine, Main Street
behind us she’s driving too slow, Christmas is
only a week away while outside Walmart there’s a man with no shirt
who catches my eye with nowhere to go
*
I crack the window to smell the December air, feel cold
drops of winter rain cool my face until the Jeep starts to fog up
the inside windows, my Jenny is bothered but doesn’t complain
*
Windows up we step into the driveway snow where
my Converse grow cold my toes hate me for wearing them, there’s Mike to greet
us at the door, his Misfits T-shirt no sleeves kind eyes
some things never change his house smells like incense
and dogs, he’s watching Jeopardy for the millionth time, his wife Mel offers hugs for
our coats, sitting on the floor while Sinead O’connor sings
Irish heartache
*
Mike speaks of old days, we laugh at memories and smile
with fondness over early versions of ourselves, I twist the cap off my Coke
smell the fizz hissing alive from inside- DuPont won and young people will
never know the way Coke was meant to taste!- I gripe like an old man
like those last two books by Vonnegut
*
I-Phone 7 vibrates against
the floor, my Grandpa said you can’t carry the weight of
the world on your shoulders, but he’s dead and Jenny is asking if I’ll
answer my phone, I know what it’s going to say, Doctor Badnews
only calls to make you cry when you’re not ready
*
there’s no way of stopping Cancer, I put the phone to my head,
I want to be sixteen watching Quantum Leap on
TV, I put the phone to my ear, I want an Orange Crush in
the summer sun. The man speaks everyone is looking
at me Jenny cries at my expression which I cannot fake, across the room I see Alex Trebek
in his last days of Jeopardy and I think it is going to be okay
no matter what
*
*The Buchanan Chronicle wishes to provide a venue for guest writers to be showcased. We may edit but only for typos, language, or length; as we desire to present submissions as received.*
The Buchanan Chronicle 