JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

yesterday they made love

staring towards the ceiling

straining towards the sheet

their once-upon-a seldom passing by

 

intent, they didn’t hear the school bus

trundling down the street

 

last year’s semester business

added a new degree

a scroll, a mortar board

an LLB, a PHD

seasons and suns careering by

 

absorbed, they didn’t see, didn’t hear

the school bus fading down the street

 

and now the years have mingled them

and flung them books and leaves

success a well received manuscript

no limit to the skies beyond

and if the house seems quiet

that’s alright; their way of life

their own decision, their privilege

their right

 

and once in three or seven months

they make a meal, invite some family

and take her sister’s children to the park

and when they leave they sit and smile

with just the faintest feeling of oh well

and their computers whirr a while

uploading photographs

 

that hide from view the school bus

now almost out of site, chugging,

chugging, fading down the street