from the Wellston notebooks unfinished

1.

once upon a wife––

why did we choose to walk this road?

you don't have to answer.

I've known the answer long enough.

let's walk this way.

behind us the embers are just dying out.

don't worry––

we'll join-up with our failings.

our hearts are not in the journey,

and now we’ve lost count of the miles.

2.

once upon a wife––

what called the wind to cross our path

with such a wild approach?

cool-eyed barmaid

on your mission toward the two-top

where I sat waiting to stake my claim, and then

the son rose beneath

the sun of southern Ohio unfinished

and the sun

set upon the stage of uncertainty.

once upon a wife–– your early

dress fluttered in the wind and clung to your skin unfinished