Now That I’m Back – Frances Quinlan

Woman woke up early, heard a scraping near her brain
Imagine when the doc took out the roach
How much she must have changed

Afterwards it dawned on me
I heard noise from every corner and one night, ate raid-seasoned spaghetti

Look up the metal sign
Clangs in the wind from a wire
Talk small, if at all
My news is blind and on fire

Only me and big trucks lost, driving from upstate alone
I came in and she had on that white uniform
I had my first coffee with her that morning at home

Victory gold plated over violence
No presence safe for memories spiraled and bent
In your bedroom
Voltaire’s severed head stared me back to bed
You’ve done your best all the way to the end

Balloons in a foreign park
Shadows of the dance class merge and come apart
Cough in the mirror, I’d forgotten to call
Now that I’m back, we should try again to talk

We should try again to talk
We should try again to talk
We should try again to talk
We should try again to talk