Kalamazoo Poetry festival April I like her inflections- Her voice Sounds like waves and beaches, & campfires, Her rasp clings to her surfer girl past-- * too many cigarettes , my friend adds throwing yellow caution tape around my heart, Igniting a whirlwind of deal breakers ...I interject ! Loud garish pronouncements I tell everyone, Certainly, I need no more lessons in brokenness, Right? 2 Xes promenade Now in my head , Though they seem so long ago, barely a whisper in my synapses- She likes my Yankee inflections , and her staccato rhythm like An insistent blue jay begging for peanuts- That breaks through again and again Building a crescendo, Just on the horizon, Should I let go and fall in? Why not one last go? Letting her catch me, In her capable hands Maybe her heartsong is is A duet waiting for my legato accompaniment, Transforming both our arrangements For the better.