The
Water At Your Door
Could
fill the bathtub of regret
Sounds
hypnotic on a windless night
Might
distract from the dull scissors
Against the stained
photographs
Will
wake you from shivering, drugged sleep
Should
float you to a sounder conviction
John Abbott
The Bells Made Us Dizzy
The bells made us dizzy,
us college kids
woken by raucous chimes
from the highest point
on campus.
The melody always fuzzy at first,
Reaching us through a bad head,
thick tongue, all that’s left
of our revelry.
And, of course, the distance.
But as the music plays
the name drifts back
like the names of people
we met the night before
but the faces don’t always
match up
and sometimes there’s only
a composite image,
a moment which stands out.
The way a girl flicks ash off a cigarette,
one corner of her mouth
brightening
at a joke already heard, yet
still funny
or a song pouring from blown speakers
the lyrics jumbled
but the message clear:
this is the best time, these
are the best days
or at least we think so now.
So onto another party,
and then another until
the buzz is good
and so is the prospect
of going home
with someone
who will meet our eyes
come morning and
say, “Wake up, it’s time to learn.”
John Abbott
