LAST CALL

by Karen Hildebrand

Spring snow rests on the branches,
few days of it in a row. He tells me
he’s flipped the last cap on the week’s
pill case. Time to begin again.
Water pump went out last month. No juice
in the studio, spike and saw lie fallow.
Opera broadcast, a Saturday morning
pleasure. I picture him in the chair
with the worn arm, art books behind,
looking out to where Mt. Shasta pierces
a frizzy cloud, eggs on the kitchen counter
waiting to crack. No coffee allowed.
“Tomorrow I’ll see if the mower will start.”
The grass, as often, a surprise.

Karen Hildebrand is the author of Crossing Pleasure Avenue (Indolent Books). Recent poems appear in Braving the Body (Harbor Editions), LEON, Mom Egg Review, No Dear, Pigeon Pages, Rust+Moth, Scoundrel Time, Slipstream, Southern Florida Poetry Review, SWIMM, Trailer Park Quarterly, Maintenant 18, and Beacon Radiant (great weather for MEDIA). Her writing on dance appears frequently in Fjord Review, as well as in The Brooklyn Rail and Dance Magazine, and she has hosted podcast episodes for Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. She lives in Brooklyn.