Tail-end

Rain hisses on the balcony

and the air smells fresh

Thunder rolls around the roofs

Eight hours since I finished class

and tomorrow all-but free

It’s the tail-end

The last days going into summer

I just restrung the flamenco one

and set it down to relax a while

Every action is a lesson in life

An hour spent tying nylon ends

In the street

a woman peels a parking ticket from her screen

and holds it like a dead baby

Jaw-dropped in disbelief

She backs against the wall

Forlorn gaze, first up the street

then down

But there’s no one to upbraid

I pour myself a drink, remembering

that water is for thirst

and wine for pleasure

Scrub out a short Dylan tune

on the steel-strung one

Two thousand miles east

my love moves me in mysterious ways