Never just
an orphan
always
Us Orphans

Drove Susan crazy…

For example:

Agreeing to meet
for dinner
Susan running
late
enters saying
sorry
and I counter

“Us orphans don’t get hungry.”

or

her news- of- the- day
conversational
gestures
wine glass waving
contents sloshing
left then right
right then left
up then out
to land
in my lap on my khakis
eliciting

“Us orphans don’t need no clean clothes.”

or

try that mid-September
tepid Sunday
late afternoon…
when the sun just quits,
and the wind shifts
and the temperature drops
by a dime of degrees …
then
draping my jacket around
her shoulders,
I can feel Susan smile
when I say,

“Us orphans don’t get cold.”

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And another outa market audio marker!