716

Alex slips into his wife on Sunday
after church
and after kneeling
he kneels again
in the coat closet
all the kids have left

she cooks dinner
and he sleeps on the couch
and the kids are all outside

their daughter stops the car
in the middle of the road
and gets out
walks around and thinks
she sees a horse behind a fence
well she don’t ride anymore
but she thanks god for
those days in sticky heat

at night Alex wakes up
in a cold sweat and speaks
of days he had in another town
he turns to his wife
to see if she can’t sleep

she’s on the porch with tea
swatting the bugs
only she knows at her golden hour
wondering where her daughter went
knowing her son is already gone

Alex calls his son
wakes him up
and tells him about the dream
his son rolls out of bed
and stands on the porch
with the phone gripped loosely
against his ear
he counts bugs on his arms
but doesn’t swat them off