The Lifespan of Now
by Linda Lerner
I don’t say, for now, like I once did
would be like standing at the edge
of a cliff & looking down;
I’m a city woman, there are no cliffs
where I live, train stations where he’d stand
at the edge to see if a train was coming
and made me nervous, even more so
when the edge moved up one day in
the same restaurant he’d been going to
for years; a friend calmed him back
a little, for now. Told me what happened.
The edge, still in his sight, meant
now had already been hijacked.
Less than a year later, I noted the date.
Then crossed it out.
Linda Lerner’s And Wales By Accident, (Poetry & Prose) Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books) 2026; Some previous collections include, Yes, the Ducks Were Real, & Takes Guts and Years Sometimes (NYQ Books (2011 & 2015); Current publications include Maintenant, Gargoyle, The Avocet, Chiron Review.
