this is why i got baked today

she looks out from behind the venetian blinds

of her Corydon Avenue Scotiabank cubicle

in a saggy yellow cardigan which

smears like margarine over her white button-up shirt

with shapeless inhibition

and i feel her sigh through the pane



wafting scents of peanut butter sandwich-ghosts

in vinyl lunchbags forgotten in formica desk drawers

mingle with Febreeze & coconut verbana body spray,

growing stale behind the slightly reflective glass

wherein i review my anxious reflection

it could be the rain

but i am instantly depressed

(brooding image)

i think i may give up drinking for the Summer

driving away from Winnipeg
with a packed car and dreams of unfurling
packed dreams

two hearts pumping love songs
with surging silent violence in front row seats
to a show of rolling wind, cauliflower clouds, blowing birds
and a thousand shades of grass-covered memories

leaving Winnipeg
entering the tick-tock time of the outside world
feeling as old as we are
two hours out from
leaving Winnipeg

drive drive driving
memories into the future
of tiny sandy feet crunching in wet sandals
rain storms that shake the tent and darken the seams
lego blocks rattling in a bin in the back of a sweaty hatchback
and melting purple popsicle trails down milk-fed forearms

acrobat dreams
had to grow up
when i left

they froze
like a memory popsicle
on the Prairies

you think Winter never ends in Winnipeg

it never ends when you leave Winnipeg

the part that stays behind is
the part that lives beyond
the past and the future
the part that waits for birth
the part that never dies

the part that never wants to die

even when it is too old and achey

rocking on the front porch
in a wooden chair
overlooking a ghost-farm
which once fed the town
which now feeds the ground
the bug-detritous of its former self

it never dies

you grow old with the World
and your skin sags from the effort of living

old souls dwell in the Prairie winds

drink in the Winter
to pass the time and forget

drink in the Summer
to fill the time and make a memory

you may just as soon forget