(staccato)
because what can we say
after pleasantries & mundanities
leave us little in common
except our kids & the songs
we came of age to & did we ever have
anything in common? 

(mesto)
Meat Loaf died today.
Maybe that’s why
we flirt like those nights
we spilled quarters
into the Kingshead’s
jukebox, jangles

splashing to a thud
& you play Paradise
by the Dashboard Light
& I Bat Out of Hell & together
20 minutes of Meat Loaf
had us laughing & other barflies

searching for culprits & we ducked
out back & kissed as mist dusted
the parking lot & pavement shone
like mint.

(mezzopiano)
On the front steps of a house
you share with a man who acts
as our kids’ dad alternating
weekends we mourn
the Kingshead & Meat Loaf
& maybe us, too.

Remembrance softens tongues:
segue to Prince & Bowie
pieces of us buried
with them. Chit chat veers
to what the kids are doing
or what we think
they should be doing.

(morendo)
As random as breezes
blow dead leaves
across your alien lawn,
I blurt out I’ll be inconsolable
when Springsteen dies
& you remind me
I was devastated
at Petty’s passing

like you when Lemmy
from Motorhead & Malcolm
from AC/DC. When I mention
MCA even the Beastie Boys weren’t immortal: we count down dead stars
like a Top 10 list.

(a capella)
The kids change hands:
a weekend transaction as routine
as a t-shirt sale at a merch table. As I drive
away Free Fallin’ pings
in my head on repeat
& I relive our divorce hearing.

All I wanted was to grow old with you,
but our plans snapped like a guitar string.
We believed it’s better to burn out
than to fade away.

David Colodney realized at an early age that he had no athletic ability whatsoever, so he turned his attention to writing about sports instead of attempting to play them, covering everything from high school flag football to major league baseball for The Miami Herald and The Tampa Tribune. David is the author of the chapbook, Mimeograph. He earned an MFA at Converse College and holds an MA from Nova Southeastern University. David’s poetry has or will appear in a variety of journals including South Carolina Review, Panoply, St. Petersburg Review, and The Chaffin Journal. He serves as an associate editor of South Florida Poetry Journal and lives in Boynton Beach, Florida with his wife, three sons, and golden retriever.