After You Get Up Early On Memorial Day
by Susanna Lang

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You take the cats out with you, shut
the door: I have the whole wide bed, all
the covers to fall back asleep in, while you
cut up and sugar the strawberries, grind
the coffee, leave the radio off
so I won't be disturbed. The room is still
dark, rain forecast for the entire day,
other people's family picnics cancelled,
barbecues moved into basements, parades
rerouted to avoid flooded viaducts, the iris
losing petals beside newly cleaned graves,
their mason jars spilt into the saturated ground.
But here is my holiday, this drift back beneath thought
while I lie in the warm impression of your body.

"After You Get Up Early On Memorial Day" by Susanna Lang, from TRAVEL NOTES FROM THE RIVER STYX by Susanna Lang, copyright © 2017 Terrapin Books. Used by permission of Terrapin Books.