By: J.K. Durick

Weather Too

The heat catches us
up in it
captures us in
climate change.
A change but not
for the better
though we can
AC it away
turn our backs
avoid the politics
of all this.
Everything is political
these days –
why not weather too?
Heat waves
torrential downpours
flash flooding
they’re all here
with us.
We’re deep in all this
and yet we do
little or nothing
but dress
for the weather
and pretend
it’s all seasonal
to be expected
this time of year.

The Miles We Go

We went the miles we had to go.
Then we slept, but the miles were
Still with us, ahead and behind us.
The miles haunted us, their blur
The uneasy feeling of moving on
And on. These were dreams full of
Themselves. The noise of it all was
Still with us, the thrum of the tires
Trucks passing, impatient drivers
Honking, a siren, even voices out of
Nowhere into the somewhere we
Still were in. It seemed like we had
Earned better than this – all those
Miles should earn us something. We
Tried to wake, tried to get back or
Forward but getting here was trouble
That we couldn’t shed. Perhaps it’s
Just life being life, the inescapable
Place, the inescapable time. We were
Sentenced to this fretful sleep, these
Repetitive dreams. Frost mentioned
The miles we go before we sleep, as if
Sleep is the end of this. “If we die before
We wake” and all that, or wake up and
Then shake off this dream.

Summer Cold

And so, “how are we,” you ask.
“Not well” is the simplest way
To respond. No real details are
Needed – it’s a cold we shared
And have almost perfected it –
Back and forth day after day.
Add those days, exchanging
Swapping, to the years we’ve
Shared. Days have turned into
Weeks, and we have become
The years, the years we have
Weathered and the years have
Weathered us. Then our wedding
Anniversary comes and goes and
We were too sick to notice it as
It went by, another year into our
Past, into the books. Another day
Deep into this cold. “Cold” sounds
Better than illness or sickness. It is
As if there was heater to warm it
Out of us, restore us to wellness or
Better restore us to what we were
Before, but the years weigh us down
And this goddamn “cold” has us
For as long as it wants.