"Talent" by John Hardesty

Stasis


Point and counterpoint, the seesaw finds its stasis,
as I punctuate the earth with my feet.
The moon, a comma, pauses between teeter;
Your argument materializes on the totter:
Why don’t we do this anymore?

I refute on the downswing:
We’re doing it now.

Not this one thing… things like this, fun, spontaneous things.
Your braided hair suspends midair like quotation marks.

We do other fun things, different things, responsible things.

More violently now, with emphasis, your legs
extend into a pair of exclamation marks: yes,
but we don’t spend time together like we used to, like this.

Dusk stifles the park, pulls dark between branches,
the epilogue suspended by only a thin line of muted light
underlined by the horizon, reinforced by departing families.

Can we not do this here?  Let’s talk about it at home.

For a moment we stare level in each other’s eyes,
then she looks away and the joints whine in their hinges
and the silence makes the best case of the evening.

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Rob Neuteboom is the Academic Dean at Rasmussen College in Fargo, North Dakota, and Moorhead, Minnesota. He holds an MA in English from the University of South Dakota and an MFA in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University Moorhead. He is currently working on a Ph.D. in Writing, Rhetoric and Culture at North Dakota State University. His poetry and fiction have appeared in the South Dakota Review, Prick of the Spindle, Red Weather, Work Literary Magazine, and the Houston Literary Review. He resides in Fargo, North Dakota, with his wife Jen.

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John Hardesty is a 35 year professional driver, amateur photographer, wheeler dealer and part time petunia grower. He's been married to Audra for 14 years and lives in Rapid City, South Dakota. He also makes a pretty good sandwich.