Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee

"Rendezvous"
by George Thurman
SECOND PLACE WINNER
A Super 8 billboard, advertising buffet
breakfast and comfortable nights
where kids sleep free, blankets the view
from our old room. Across the valley
the pastiche of autumn hills is pockmarked
with condos and private drives. I-85 flexes
south toward Atlanta. The promised exit
doesn't lead to this parking lot flaking asphalt.
It doesn't lead to this courtyard fountain
with its crumbling blue basin and weathered
cherubs pouring nothing from pitchers
filled with vacant years.
* * * *
Memories lurk in these windowless rooms:
you and me tie-dyed and sandaled. Wild flowers
from the hill fragrant our sheets . Our future
splayed in the night before us like a scattering
of coastal stars. Oh, let's meet. Let's haunt
these rooms with sweet smoke and dry wine.
Let's slip into ripped jeans and Berks.
Let's speak the language of our history.
Let's paint pet names on the billboard
and take back the sky from this shadow
where all the doors have been jimmied open,
and the fountain echoes with the splash you made.
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