Take Me Back

Rick Blum

In the twilight between

oblivion and chaos—

when ears crack open

just enough

to hear the roar

of onrushing calamity,

and jarring images

of the unforgiving terrain of day

unfurl like a cheap quilt,

exposing a land

where three-inch curbs

become impenetrable walls,

and gravel paths

yawning canyons,

where tasks must be

carefully calibrated and timed

to conform to the whims

of aging organs

as leaky nerves

reach out maliciously

to entangle lymphatic legs—

I strain to return to

an untethered world

receding from

the impending daylight,  

a place where a gauzy girl

with orange hair tumbling

down over her shoulders

says softly

that arrangements

have been made to play

golf together, tomorrow,

and this simple

revelation reopens

a rusty vault

concealing the

bewildering bliss

of accidental love—

if only for a fleeting

fleck of time.

Rick Blum has been chronicling life’s vagaries through humorous essays and poetry for 25+ years during stints as a nightclub owner, high-tech manager, market research mogul, and alter kaker. His works have appeared in Humor Times, Boston Literary Magazine, Work Stew, and Bohemia Journal, among others. He received first place in the 2014 Carlisle Poetry contest, and honorable mention in the 2015 Boston Globe Magazine Deflategate poetry challenge. Currently, he is holed up in his Massachusetts office trying to pen the perfect bio, which he plans to share as soon as he stops laughing at the sheer futility of this effort.