– after The National –
Mine hung on the flagpole
When the temperature reached 90 degrees for three days straight
Again. You have no idea how hard I died when you left.
The back seat is lined with towels, dried leaves on the floor,
Towers of library books I haven’t read, never will.
Where do passengers go for respite:
A seat at the bar with a beer and a glass
To inspect the counter for hidden grime?
There’s always a recounting of the past decade.
A Lazy Day Parade. A sham election.
I was in no mood
To hear this. Strings of lyrics pausing in the sky
Wait for change that won’t come.
I am carried to space by a dolphin balloon.
There’s a voice snaking in the silence right before sleep,
In the pain in the middle of a fork in the road,
At a wrong turn.
There’s heartbreaking truth in the raspiest of voices,
Love submerged with an underwater chorus.
Vibrating light emanates from our chests.
I gasp as this one song pauses at the bridge:
It crawls and peeks over the edge into the river.
Maybe souls can be moved
Here ... at the end of everything.
When the temperature reached 90 degrees for three days straight
Again. You have no idea how hard I died when you left.
The back seat is lined with towels, dried leaves on the floor,
Towers of library books I haven’t read, never will.
Where do passengers go for respite:
A seat at the bar with a beer and a glass
To inspect the counter for hidden grime?
There’s always a recounting of the past decade.
A Lazy Day Parade. A sham election.
I was in no mood
To hear this. Strings of lyrics pausing in the sky
Wait for change that won’t come.
I am carried to space by a dolphin balloon.
There’s a voice snaking in the silence right before sleep,
In the pain in the middle of a fork in the road,
At a wrong turn.
There’s heartbreaking truth in the raspiest of voices,
Love submerged with an underwater chorus.
Vibrating light emanates from our chests.
I gasp as this one song pauses at the bridge:
It crawls and peeks over the edge into the river.
Maybe souls can be moved
Here ... at the end of everything.
Note: italicized lines in this poem are lyrics from songs on The National’s most recent album: I Am Easy to Find. “You Had Your Soul with You” is the name of the first song on the album.
Kevin A. Risner is an Ohioan; is author of My Ear is a Sieve (Bottlecap Press, 2017), Lucid (The Poetry Annals, 2018), and Five Seconds Could Last Five Years (2020); and has published or has work forthcoming in Glass, Lines+Stars, Mineral Lit Mag, Ocean State Review, Variant Lit, and others.