1973
INTERIM
Linda Williams
Do you remember the beginning of our
lives when we (or at least I) waited and
worked to keep the togetherness happy.
It was always warm and the days were
rich with the perfume of youth. There were
no violins and the one time that your kiss
ushered forth stars from the sky, is now a
vague memory. But you (or at least I)
had to go and grow until my lips and yours
are much too mature to kiss each other and the
song I so readily named love is in its last
phases. Quick! before it ends. I've got to
tell you something I dreamed about the
place called grown-up. Just a second
more to remember the gaiety and brilliance
And then we can watch the sooty dreams
float along the city skyline as our youth,
cryingly surrenders to murder.
MISSING YEAR
Sarah Scally
Do you remember when at the end of last year
when we (or just me) sat at home waiting to
Play a song at just the right minute so that midnight
Might strike with profound glee F*CK 2020?
It was cold and the day was long and new years
was more another day than any kind of celebration.
Any other year it might have been that at that moment
I was next to you, nervous as can be, waiting for a kiss.
But you (or at least I) kissed no one on New Years.
There was no togetherness to feigh good times and
While I must admit in past years those parties
gained my ire, any gathering of new years tidings
will be most welcome. Alas! The year is far from over still
And I must ask you if baladed good luck kisses are worth
The same as one that may be counted down to
For there was once a time I might have cherished
The luck of New Years but I’d much prefer the token
Of love gained to time lost after everything that's happened now.