Seas of mud


    Lost a shoe in the shuffle


    back there, that’s what they told me.


    All I can do is double knot


    with stiff fingers and quick prayers


    and trust in the metal holding


    me to earth that we run


    instead of slide like skaters


    soaring through brown ice.


    The guys lope like gentlemen,


    silent companions as I enter


    the shadows of the valley


    where beer bottles loiter like the drunk


    in the bushes and creases of the trees.


    Look straight ahead, my legs marching


    like a part of the band, listening


    to the silent beat, synchronized runners


    running from the sins of older men, women.


    Bus leaves at dawn,


    before the sun has bothered


    to duck out of bed. Grab a pillow


    or a friend and snooze before the race rises


    in fiery splendor. The way back is nothing


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    but wind, familiar scent of sweat,


    friendship songs like the Irish back in Dublin.


    Hill day strips us all of pride,


    the muscles of the body beating


    like a heart, inching up and down


    the land like caterpillars. Ride the rush


    of freshly mowed green


    like a rollercoaster in reverse—


    rush the ups, coast the downs.


    We chat through slits of breath,


    just two bodies following the mold of the earth,


    rising and falling like inevitable tides.


    New love, true love


    My new love was sleek


    as Teslas, smart as a California


    tux or the math teacher I slept through.


    Her glow was a nightlight,


    a haze of blurred stars in my living room


    —my vivacious xbox,


    wires curled just so,


    her mind racing a million


    miles a minute.


    These were the glory days of Halo,


    circling the rings, finger on the trigger


    as we chatted through the headphone waves


    to people countries and continents apart.


    We engaged in negotiations, idle chit chat,


    jumped-started friendships and smack talked


    with the best of them.


    And when the game stretched


    into the view of your parents


    and we had to hit the neighborhood streets


    to stretch our legs, we mounted ripsticks


    like spaceships and ran


    the cul-de-sac ring,


    mouths pumping faster than our legs


    as we discussed strategy,


    two army generals in t-shirts and shorts.