Last Night I Dreamt
by Kevin Risner
I was
at an airport wearing my resilient Adidas
the whole time setting off metal detectors
scuffing an asbestos cloud left by the last century
in the middle of the gate & over the walking escalators
clouds are a gift for those who are late for that flight that’s late
people I never would have considered
both of my grandmothers
walked onto the scene
out of the haze I ran to them
shaking & trembling body swelling up with a glee
no comportment
would prevent
that was truly them there!
I called out to them
I was within an inch of them
their vacant stares were latching onto
vacant futures
all they wanted
to do was to get to the proper terminal
sit at that gate
wait
& do nothing else
but they had to hear me
they had to hear me
they had to hear me
three: the magic number
good or bad luck?
if I could just say their names three times
a simple hi that many times
then maybe they’d turn
they would
they’d do it
they had to
recognize me
even if I snatched them from the vast beyond
even if they want to return into a place
where those who left us
can come back
full & complete & cognizant
just turn
turn turn
turn to the skies
to a line of spent fuel
cotton contrails
how long will it take
for memories
to dissipate
to evaporate
how long will it take to fly
to a place they’d have reached
by now
a place where I knew
I could just
take a long breath when all is said & done
& be there
where they sing
a hymn that chimes like birds
& it will rattle in
my chest when I wake up
Kevin A. Risner is writing instructor and ESL Coordinator at the Cleveland Institute of Art. His work can be found online in multiple locations including Rise Up Review, Rising Phoenix Review, Noble/Gas Quarterly, Ghost City Review, The Wire’s Dream and others. He has two short poetry collections available: My Ear is a Sieve (Bottlecap Press, 2017) and Lucid (The Poetry Annals, 2018).
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