truth serum

after work
i pull into the driveway
to contemplate that typical misery
of southern evenings

just to sit still
like a sleeping horse
vacuous
in my vibrating car

a jesuit
cycles past behind me
on a child's green bike
or a saddled grasshopper

in the rearview mirror
he was a fish
darting through the evening ocean
before the eyes of another man
wearing patent concrete shoes

inside
you, in your undulating plaid house dress,
that youre always wearing,
are tapping your shoe
on the hardwood floor

sending sharp, repetitious wood claps
from the front of our happy home
to the back yard

swimming across the house
and filtering through the screen door

to join the symphony
of bullfrogs
and cicadas
that wander screaming
through the growth
like survivors in a plane crash
landing in the jungle

i examined that metal screen one morning
while the coffee machine was mumbling
and spitting in the next room

i found the residual particles
of your song of impatience
that were too thick to pass through pores

the notes of which,
upon examine nation
spelled my initials

my acronym too thick to pass through
and dance in the feral yard
like sinners at the gate

but, nevertheless,
im not paying to cool the outside

so next time
all of those raps
will collide with the door
like windshield insects
and spell your maiden name