Zarina Gurley Danai

To the Present

Andrew Myrick

by the time I can enjoy your company you have already left the coffee I brought you cold still where I set it the book I was showing you closed with the bookmark stuck in the page that had the poem I wanted you to read, the shoes you left by the door were already laced up and hitting the sidewalk a few blocks down, sometimes you blow through not even taking off your coat other times you sit quiet listening to the ticking clock with no plans to be anywhere else but while I wait for your return I’ll pull a chair out for you and I’ll make a fresh cup of coffee and find a new poem you can read for whenever I invite you over