Corner Store Dreaming
Leaves fall like tawny water droplets from the trees
Here in my sweetest memories
Nostalgia swirls across my mind like ballet dancers,
In coordinated movements
Plie, allégro, arabesque
I have to halt and catch my breath
Throngs of teenagers
Outside the corner store
And I’m there
Wishing for more
One day I’ll find it
And then I’ll wish for this
Dreams of pastry with savory sauce
The bite of ice in winter
A church cast of stone with a blood red door
Her edges slightly splintered
Trees bare and dark, silent, still
Tidy rows of infantrymen
A cardinal on my windowsill
A lake thaws with the dawn of spring
Dissolving like a stratus cloud when the sun rolls in
Summers marked with the brine of clams
Wafting down the beach
From shanties up above
I hear a tinkling song in the distance
Calling me back in time
And I’m in love