Sparkling new blue sneakers, the smell of typewriter ribbon, rainbow sherbet sunset, cold bicycle metal. Dawn & dew & paperboy ink stains. Cafeteria vending machine, cotton socks, green coach shorts, mop buckets, a radio, the Bee Gees then Frank Sinatra, lunch breaks & the bar after work. Broken dishwasher, a little orange light blinking E:020. Coyotes beneath junipers, the scent of elk sweat. A burning bush. Electric guitar, electric drums, piano, a French woman saying ‘autodidact.’ Whiteboards, erasable markers, a paper towel. A dented orange Toyota jackknifed in a ditch. Coffee in Kansas City, the lights of Houston, sushi bars in Berlin, jazz in a Paris cave, that moment of complete darkness when the saxophonist zipped the air with his hand. — NATHANIEL CAIRNEY
Nathaniel Cairney is an American poet and novelist who lives with his family in Belgium. His chapbook “Singing Dangerously of Sinking” was a finalist for the 2021 Saguaro Prize in Poetry, and his poems have been published in The Cardiff Review, Midwest Review, Broad River Review and others.