On the Ohio

By

++++++++As half of the sun
++++++++++++becomes the whole sun,
++++I decide to say not half
++++++++but the whole thing.
We note the beauty silently.
++++++++The German Shepherd’s understands
++++the angles of ball after tennis ball.
++++++++The straightest path.
The topwater shimmers like oil
++++and polyethylene as the river moves
+++++++++++++toward its emptying.

The opposite of beauty is what we choose to look away from.

You point to the trash
++++caught on the piling of the pedestrian bridge,
++++++++spinning with the layered currents.

++++++++What else do I ignore
++++to point out the reddening doily
stenciled on your chest by your complicated
++++sports bra?

See, less serious about matters.

It’s much easier when we have spatters
++++++++to worry about. Mosquito-insides-
++++made-outsides by our palms.
Bumps and splotches on shins and shoulders.

++++++++I can see it now:
us surveying ourselves up and down
++++in the mirror before we turn in for the night,
++++++++reminded of the bites
++++just when we have forgotten them.

We will shudder and wonder what else
we might have done to ourselves.

 


Nicholas Molbert