After You Get Up Early on Memorial Day

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.

Copyright Credit: Poem copyright ©2017 by Susanna Lang, "After You Get Up Early on Memorial Day," from Travel Notes from the River Styx, (Terrapin Books, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Susanna Lang and the publisher.

Source: 2018