Missed Connection
You: Bartender at the left wing bar, sleeves
rolled up, preaching happiness, Fredrich
Nietzsche. Small scar across your chin. We
high-fived, nodded about get-out-the-vote
rallies, about Gore, Clinton, and Obama.
Me: A nonviolent god. Blue-eyed poet
nursing a bourbon. White sweater. Yellow
dog democrat in suede boots. You asked
how I felt about the death penalty
and I made a joke about novels. I should
have told you how much I liked your lip ring,
the way you absentmindedly called me
sweetheart. I never gave you my number.
I use a typewriter. You have long fingers.
Kelli Russell Agodon is the author of Letters From the Emily Dickinson Room, published by White Pine Press, and blogs at Book of Kells. She is also the co-editor of the Crab Creek Review
