Haunted

Haunted
by the memories of my past
a painful irony
Falling to pieces
Shattered,
And battered
Back to my brutal reality
Where all I know is my memories
Where we met once again
Trying to push them back
Down inside buried
Locked away
Where no one can find them
Not even me
Sit back
Watch that old world burn

Summer

We eat the flesh

And spit the seeds,

Leave nothing but the rinds.

Ruby juice stains our chins

And white tanks—

All the rage that year—

And the wood of the deck

Where we sat

And talked

And burned our faces.

I fell in love that year,

With the sun

And glass soda bottles

And guitar music

And the idea of love.

We went wading in the stream,

Collected all the pretty stones,

And lost them on the way home.

That summer

Looked like heaven

Sounded like an old piano

And tasted like watermelon.