Sunflower Sunset, Romona Youngquist, 48 X 36, Oil
ALMOST
Locked in a world of incipient anxiety
In a town known for whispering silence
My meteoric rise to the working class
Took me down side streets of echoes
Feeling uncomfortable in strange schools
I was charismatic in my own manner
Reluctant to withdraw from complications
Of a kaleidoscopic life of crime
Paradoxically diminished by my status
I went searching for sexual enchantments
Absolutely uncommitted to any way forward
I fell solicitously for the pleasures of flesh
In alleys that smelled like spilled kerosene
I slept in fortresses of discarded cardboard
Then I found another with a brittle smile
Eyes like emerald rain in a thirsty desert
After I proved my affection we were like
Minnows in puddles in a drying river
Then we promised to survive our history
To denounce all previous apothecaries
We lived happily escaping our poverty
Adjusted to our incipient anxiety
________________
John Garmon