Bolstered by the Flask
Published The Blue Nib Literary Magazine
poetry
​
Calm circled the lake
looming evening
parsing peace on the horizon
glowing our star

red hot
waves spent
washed out in the
glassy reflections

of the afternoon heat.
Cicadas clicked
in the leftover.
Doves cooed

in the leavings
when his hand
slid into his jacket pocket
and emerged

with his flask glinting silver
head thrown back
swallowing
over and over and over.

Loneliness crept off him
into me.
Staring
through the fade

chilling
past the pale
he ground
his cigarette

into the sweet potato vines.
Whether
he was seeking
courage or spending it

bolstered by the flask
his legs summoned him
weaving him elsewhere
hauling

something or someone
raking and reeking
behind him
like a hideous haunt

deadened by days that
wouldn’t be ignored.
Restlessness
folded me in

pilfering peace.
Life is coming for me
and my
flask.