Merrilee by Donald Patten
Passing
Sara Cline
I.
I’ve been thinking
about the difference
between counting up and counting down
an hour until she gets on the plane
or
an hour until my pot roast is done.
an hour before the ceremony starts
and I’m not even out of bed.
an hour left to evacuate our home. an hour
between me and your midnight kiss.
an hour waiting for the doctor,
the thin paper crinkling and sticking to my legs.
an hour watching you sleep. god, it goes fast.
an hour of watching Friends re-runs yet again.
an hour waiting to hear back
that yes, you’re alive.
II.
an hour to kill, an hour to spare
I have mercy on my hours
save time, save time.
tired of time spent shaving?
get laser hair removal!
a stitch in time, a stitch in time.
microwave. multitask.
cut corners, bear down on the gas.
iSpy with my little eye ninety nine bottles of
picket signs in manicured lawns that read
millions of hours are killed every day
and for just 99 cents a day, you too
can save the life of a precious hour
I don’t want to be involved anymore
this time on my hands is hard good bad and borrowed
wasted and flying and running and lost
and I am not made to be murderer nor savior
o’ hickory dickory deist god
I am simply a bystander
III.
grandfather clock and father time strike twelve
daughters, their daylight skipped
stroke of midnight she plucks her sea glass slipper
blunted of all its edge and frothy it is
indistinguishable it is the cataract
in your mother’s eye as she sings sweetly that
your biological clock is watched / is boiled / is right twice a day
the mockingbird empties the cradle / watching you fly
down kaleidoscope the rabbit howls to the bloodied
moon hooded and pockmarked and pulling
you who are a woman now / you whose face like marble
the crows will walk / erupt butterflies / cocoon of tarnished lace
you / one stroke born in the nick of yesterdays
a cigarette ashing unto itself
Sara Cline is a queer, autistic poet born and bred in Plano, Texas. She holds an MFA from the University of Washington and is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize. Her work has been platformed by Poets.org, Eff-able Anthology, and A VELVET GIANT, among others.
Donald Patten is an artist and cartoonist from Belfast, Maine. He creates oil paintings, illustrations, ceramics and graphic novels. His art has been exhibited in galleries throughout Maine. To view his online portfolio, visit @donald.patten on Instagram.