Jeff Jensen

FOR EDWARD SMITH


At 3AM   the nearly bare

partially lit, interstate

is lonely enough to recall

that like O'Hara

you eluded me

then died tragically.

On the hospital bed I imagine

the dancer in you danced

a sorrowful dance

before your Hereafter.

Released   you

upset a smoother ending,

a sort of last argument on behalf of

complexity, whatever memory brings.


Ed, we never discussed my commute.

It sucks.  Who wouldn't prefer to heat the sheets at home

dreaming off

the waking hours?

For 13 years… traveling

to this warehouse, where

I pull packages from a squealing belt

and arrange them

for overworked, despondent drivers

who still manage

a good-hearted rib for the road.


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