DRIVE HOME
Marty Correia
You grumble how the hostess flaunted her
garden yet deprived you of a coveted
sun-heavy tomato. Then, replay a dull
weekender's account of his
farm-to-table-to-Instagram breakfast.
In our midnight car you lament people who
don't talk about what really matters. You
beg me to ask you something serious.
I am a lone drowsy soldier. I ask myself if this
battle is for or against your disquiet. You sigh and
play radio station roulette.
We get home. We slam doors. We
sleep. At three in the morning I
wake. You deserve some questions.
On whose hands do I count my
regrets? Do I lie when I read your
tealeaves?
Who else would love
me?
I don't think I want the
answer.
Why am I nostalgic for the times when I could write a bad
check? Was the train really too close or did I just want to
grab your hand?
Why isn’t there a yoga based on Pompeii's ashen poses? Where was I
during the bruised November you slept through Thanksgiving?
I was repairing holes in the wall. What's
wrong with a dollar-store sympathy card?
My alarm rakes us, Sunday morning
piles of sleep. Your pillow-wrinkled cheek settles into
my shoulder's surrender.
Marty Correia
writes fiction and poetry in the East Village where she has lived with conceptual artist Kate Conroy since 1996. Marty’s work has appeared in The Mailer Review, Cagibi, Omnibus!, Sinister Wisdom, Punk Soul Poet, Lady Business and Flock. She was an Artist-in-Residence at SU-CASA in Manhattan and at the Sunny Point Residency in the Finger Lakes region. As a writing coach and manuscript adviser Marty helps writers dig deep to achieve their best work. A graduate of NYU’s creative writing MFA program, Marty is represented by the Frances Goldin Literary Agency.