Winter Comes On (how i know it's here to stay)

     Worked a double

     Hurt like hell

     Walking on home

     West on Sheridan

     Taxi beeps in asking

     I stare ahead in answer

     It’s one in the morning

     And the temperature drops

     Winter has come on

          But I don’t mark winters

          By the snow fall

          Or bank sign readings

          I do it by going

          To the closest beer store

          And peering in glass

          Seeing if the winter lager

          Is sitting in puppy face

          Begging for consumption

          And that’s when I know

          Who I am

         And what time it is

Wintery winter wind

Rummages my memories

And this morning I awoke

To thinking I was somewhere

I wasn’t

For here I was in Chicago

And my mind was stuck

In Louisville, circa 2002

To an autumn morning

When I sat in an empty kitchen

While Sarah taught the kids

And our sidewalkless block

Was the perfection of ugly

And I wanted out

But knew New York was next

On our hit list of places

We would call home

In our co-joined life

But I hated the mornings

Waking up in a town

Where I knew nothing except

          This is where I don’t want to beBut I found a recipe

For traveling to somewhere

I liked to be and traversing

And it all sat in

The winter lager of Sam Adams

Hell, I became a patriot

Looking at the man in 1776 clothes

Holding a 1776 mug

With his 1776 smile

And I’d replicate it on my fourth beer

As I blasted Smashing Pumpkins

And heated up last night’s dish

And waited ... waited ... waiting

For Sarah to come home

And fuck me ... hold me ... waste away with me

          Revolution! It’s what I want

          From who? Everyone I say

          De-evolution! It’s who we are

          From what? The 1776 mind

               More beer! Fellow wintery wailers

               Who sit inside and toast yourselves

               Who pretend you are singer you play

                Who wait for, wait for, wait for in boredom

                Long for, long for, long for somewhere else

                                        Than where you are.

***

Last night, after my shift

I yawned and walked into the beer store

Saw the winter lager and picked a sixer

Thought about Philadelphia

Boston and New York

And how I’m here in Chicago

But thinking of Louisville

And how last night I waited

On ladies from New Orleans

A crew from Dallas, Texas

And some boys who were Canadian.

And here I am, bluesin’ it up

With Ryan Adams and Andrew Bird

And glad I know Doug Jones

And his bruised, beautiful soul

And where’s he from?

San Antonio ...

We’re all birthed from the thoughts

The batch of brew

From the souls of 1776

The Sam Adams and the likes of

So as I taste my winter

And let in sink into gut

"America the beautiful!"

I hear in song like Somehow, Someway

In dream like Sarah whispering

In friends like Doug

In patrons like N’Orleans group

In memories of La’ville

It’s all here for me

All in a sip

Of winter lager

And here I am

Leaning on wall

As morning sighs with tired watching

And I finally let my yawns take over eyes

And lay me down

Knowing when I awake

My mind could be anywhere

     But my body is here

     In wintery wind.

                            -10.23.07