[My Poetic Good Will Hunting sequel]
More than just about
the girl, I forgoed
the sheetrock, I put down
my can of Boston Lager,
I ignored the chalkboard
numbers and without
a map I took the drive out
West to reach Sklyar.
I realized listening to
the freakin XO tape stuck
in my tape deck playing
“Miss Misery” over
and over, so much that by
the hundredth fuckin’ time,
even Elliott Smith convinced
me with his three-chord song
poetry that she is my sea, so
open— beautifully wet
daydreaming thirsty
with every mile imagining
Skylar inviting me to swim,
realizing that I was the one
freaked out of making
the leap and jumping in
to join her by the beach—
who would have thunk it?
Not you Sean, all of times
during our court appointed
sessions, would you have
pictured me sitting by
the ocean, tan as a Warriors
fan in the Golden freakin State.
Still, Stanford’s no Boston
but when I dived in with her
next to me in the water, Sean,
I just wanted to keep floating
like the painting, I now love
recall hanging in your office.
Some days here by the San
Andres, realizing it’s not
my fault, while discovering
so many new colors in sunsets
as I butterfly swim towards
the tide, that keeps me splashing
so many possibilities, those
sheetrock daze seems so far
away from me, now I am
no longer shivering about
drowning, I don’t even
miss misery, her bruises,
fisticuffs, the scars from
those nights— now I awake
with Skylar by the ocean sun
rise. And Sean, I am now
the one who can’t wait to dive
back in and taste all the salt in
these tides. It makes me long
for a beach breakfast of Corona
with lime. Hearing her accent
giggling that used to annoy me
now I savor, every time I look
over at those far away eyes
now such closer hidden by those
oversized Liz Taylor sun
glasses, the glow of the
morning sun always reminds
me how I love her like
these waves, and each day
I am hoping they never
fuckin subside.
Adrian Ernesto Cepeda is the author of Flashes & Verses… Becoming Attractions from Unsolicited Press, Between the Spine published with Picture Show Press and La Belle Ajar, inspired by Sylvia Plath’s 1963 novel, will be published by CLASH Books in 2020. You can connect with Adrian on his website: http://www.adrianernestocepeda.com/