Melting

Dusk covers the interstate
Beyond the plate glass window
Semi-trailer trucks accelerate and roar
Driving over daylight savings time
The distant sound of comfort
I remember.  Engines fade
On the stairway, turning keys
Amber scents and shadows
Lost touch, tracing soft and supple
To my left and to my right
The dark that comes from light

In the years that still define
Flash forward, closing time,
Fingernails red, long, clicking quietly
A young woman flips through vinyl
Small black purse strapped across her chest
Proud and brilliantly alone.
I wonder who she listens to for comfort
In the dark, underneath her arm
She holds Boys and Girls in cellophane wrap
Slave to love, scratches drawn across the back
Searching or forgetting.  My heart bends

As if left in the sun to melt

Photo by Jamakassi on Unsplash

Written by 

Doug Hoekstra is a Chicago-bred, Nashville-based writer and musician, educated at DePaul University in the Windy City (B.A.) and Belmont University in the Music City (M.Ed.), whose prose, poetry, and non-fiction have appeared in numerous print and online literary journals. His first set of stories, Bothering the Coffee Drinkers earned an Independent Publisher Award (IPPY) for Best Short Fiction (Bronze Medal). Ten Seconds In-Between, his latest collection of short stories, earned a Royal Dragonfly Award for Best Short Story Collection of 2021 and Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist 2022. Hoekstra has also worked extensively as a singer-songwriter with eight albums of original material on labels released on both sides of the pond, musical highlights including included Nashville Music Award and Independent Music Award nominations, as well as many groovy happenings. “A lot of people write songs, Hoekstra writes five-minute worlds” (Wired Magazine). His most recent CD, “The Day Deserved,” was released in the U.S. and Europe in 2021. www.doughoekstra.net

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