It's in the way the waves fall like dull lead,
Water warmer by September but still cold,
The bougainvillea's crinoline, fresh blood,
The sky's blank face, the blank face of a child.
A skywriter spells SURRENDER. To what?
This ease? This difficulty? Of the mild
Astonishments of a Saturday night,
Not one survives—not her face, not her name,
Not her. And certainly not how the light
Spilled broken on the bay and made a game
Of whatever it was you were trying
To make clear between you there, over rum.
Sometimes you don't feel like doing anything.
Sometimes you're done before you even rise.
It's in the way the sun mutes everything,
The mist, the fog, the high latticed fences.
The girl on the plane was reading a book:
Death of a "Jewish American Princess."
Sometimes you don't know quite what you feel like.
You put on your favorite disc, Camelot,
And walk around the house having the look.
A good part of the time, you feel like shit.
It's in the stylishness of restaurants,
In the sweet note of a single gunshot
Echoing off the glass of lit storefronts,
In the cool distances of these houses.
Nobody knows what anybody wants,
Or else knows all too well what those tan faces
Are trying hard not to show they don't feel.
And that's all that's left to you now are the traces:
House, stock, Jacuzzi, clothes, automobile.
The following works were selected from The Last Nostalgia...
The Ohio | Death in Orange County | Photograph: Being Sad | Your Shadow | To a Woman Passing By | Adult Situations | Tropical Courtyard | Page
For more info on Joe Bolton, visit: The Joe Bolton I knew | Remembering Joe Bolton