Jim & Michelle

We talked last night about the Champagne flutes
that we never could find
and the beer steins
serving as substitutes
that we found in a junk yard
An Oakland treasure
We called them ours
despite the names Jim and Michelle
etched into the side
an open secret
You called them dead
I called them divorced.

We stole a story
from Jim and Michele's trash
took it to our wedding
and had a toast
to humor
and forever
to live
and forget

These now empty glasses that weren't
what we wanted
have shifted in our landscape
bulky and heavy
with names that aren't ours-
metaphors
that will take our lives
to understand
We have built
    a story
      a house
        ourselves
on these two beer steins
that were not what we wanted-
That may or may not be in the attic.

On the sunrise
of our five years
with rings, tears, laughter
I can't help but see
the poem start to emerge
Singing to the bird who still has yet to land
and to the hermit sculpting stories in the dark
beauty is about perspective
and love is as large
as we both can imagine
some times it's not about what you want
but what you've got.

Jim & Michele
Forever.