Pantoum # 2

I’m brushing up on one of your favorite poets, so

inevitably my thoughts turn to you,

to reciting your favorite verses,

shells crunching on the beach beneath my boots

 

inevitably my thoughts turn to you

when I take the bus through our old neighborhood.

shells crunching on the beach beneath my boots

a pothole interrupts my daydreaming

 

Riding the bus through our old neighborhood

I wonder if the landlord has filled our apartment.

a pothole interrupts my daydreaming

like neighbors having loud sex in the early morning

 

I wonder if the landlord has filled our apartment.

I mostly remember the miserable moments,

like neighbors having loud sex in the early morning

or dropping our keys down the elevator shaft

 

I mostly remember the miserable moments because

they make for the best stories after the fact,

like when I dropped our keys down the elevator shaft,

though when I tell that story now I leave you out of it