Kristofer Collins: Almond Way

for Scott Silsbe

We made heroic work of a few six packs

while warm breezes skirted through

the screen door and pushed salt crystals

and breakfast crumbs around your kitchen

table. One of the great Irish poets

of our fathers’ time crawled out

of the grooves of the black disc

dizzying around your turntable

like some Belfast haint rattling

its jazzy chains. You never cared

for flutes, no matter the season,

even with summer ensconced

on Almond Way and the tinny ripples

of the river running up the alley.

We could have been anywhere,

but this is where we’ve chosen.

You who have walked the black shores

of Paris and Kalamazoo invite

this dirty river into our talk,

and even though you say Berryman

and Brecht I hear Allegheny,

oh Allegheny.

Copyright 2017 Kristofer Collins

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Allegheny River from James Sharp Landing