"A Black Dog Sits and Waits", "Por Ella", & "November 2024" by Steve Passey

A Black Dog Sits and Waits

Just to wake up on a Saturday morning

and have all the answers, that would be good.

This is all there is.

I would start again, if I could, maybe,

but that’s not how it works.

I want to quit.

You understand, I know,

but I know

the first thing to die

is motivation.

This is all there is, and

It’s not enough, not enough at all,

and soon enough even that much is gone.

Scatter the ashes,

smash the urn,

leave nothing after the last shots have been poured

and drunk down and all the glasses thrown away.

This is all there is.

I don’t know what else to say.

I too, just wanted to wake up on a Saturday morning

and be rich and be loved and to love.

Por Ella

she is seventeen and sitting on the curb with her best friend, 

smoking cigarettes with their oversized coats 

draped across their shoulders and 

their doc martens hot on their feet and 

there is nowhere to go, nowhere to have to be, 

all things are possible, and 

this is how she looks forever 

when you catch her in just the right light.

so, you love this small wild thing,

shy like wild things are, but

she carries some kind of sorrow, and

is wild, like all the shy things are.

November 2024

This is not something we should worry about.

Leave the arguing to those who like to argue.

We’ll drive out to the bridge.

and watch the trains go by.

I’ve been learning Spanish for you,

you know,

just so I could say 

Yo tambien ti amo

(I think that’s it)

When the time is right

It’s all good,

is what I am trying to say.

Leave

all of the small and petty things

to the others, because

there’s nothing there

for you and me.