In Absentia

from Miracle Strip by Matt Layne

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lyrics

In Absentia

—for my father

Is that what you were trying to tell me?
That in every new meeting there is a kiss

of death to come? Like in that story about
the fox and the little prince who tamed him?

When the prince prepared to leave, the fox said,
“Ah, I shall cry.” And the fox’s sorrow so worried

the little prince that he gave their whole friendship
over to nothing. The prince blamed the fox for wishing

to be tamed in the first place, but the fox knew better.
The fox knew there would always be wheat fields,

their soft golden shafts, shining stars to light his day.
And I’m sitting here at the Mister Kleen Car Wash,

waiting on the hot shine cycle and to be called. I’ll not be
identified by name but by car, and I am reading a poem

about turtles and swans and the dark spots death leaves behind
by a poet I never knew until I needed him, so there are visible tears

when the woman calls out, “yellow beetle,” and I exit to bright
September sunlight to show the man my curling receipt.

All this is to say, that the thought of a wheat field shining without you
in its midst seems like nothing more than a waste of words.

credits

from Miracle Strip, released August 31, 2022

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about

Matt Layne Birmingham, Alabama

Poet, librarian, raconteur; Matt Layne has been poking hornet's nests and looking under rocks since he was knee-high to a peanut peg.
I reckon you oughta check him out.