Show and Tell - Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers, Invalids

Instead of walking backwards

Instead of lying ‘til all the blood left our heads

Instead of warming to regret

One night so far

I slept on the floor of the van

A letterhead

How close were the friends you’d never see again

How close had it all been happening

We drove beyond the pavement

We never made it to the top

Walked to see the Perseides

Only so many years with such an optimal

Zenithal hourly rate

But the clearings

Southwest of Portland

The northeast sky

Was completely obscured by the

Bright city lights

We couldn’t see anything

How can we by our own glow be polluted?

Two days so far

We met sitting in the back yard

Remembering names we haven’t heard in so long

Places we used to think we belonged

What’s it like

To see us again?

To be back at your old address again

Had it stayed when you had moved away?

Late the next night

We saw them cross the sky their last time

And still the bed wasn’t made to lie within it

I wasn’t home the time you came to visit

And still feel like something’s missing

Efforts to be more distant

There were no questions that you had to ask me

There were no complications as it was

We started sharing less and less

Adhesive releases if we pull gradually

Fostered unspoken disparity

Under a light it came gradually apart

Giving back half what we’re given

Opened the door to hear the street

End where the other starts

Hoping that we ever get back

Even half what we’re giving