Kristofer Collins: Never Let Go

for Frank O’Hara

Amazing how tired I am, 3pm a Thursday.

People keep talking to me unsolicited,

and the bar across the street is owned

by a republican draft dodger. There’s no relief

to be found. How did you do it? All that energy

and enthusiasm. If I didn’t need the paycheck

I’d never leave the house. Last night

we had drinks with my favorite poets. Today

it doesn’t seem to matter. For no good reason

I find myself thinking about Balanchine.

And then I’m wondering what Sun Ra is up to.

I know they say he’s dead, but come on.

How could death hold purchase on that man?

I’m thinking of the time I watched my wife

swimming off the North Carolina coast,

my feet in the soft relentless surf. Out there

at the end of the earth the sun would eventually

set, but right then it was like the sun and myself

would just go on forever. The sound of her

in the tide a reason to never let go.

Copyright 2017 Kristofer Collins

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