The 32nd Year of Loving

Joel Barker and Matt Flaming standing on a New York bridge

Joel Byron Barker

Stepped past a boy’s knee in the aisle of the commuter train,
When I brushed my corduroy across his skateboard deck, I doubt he knew it was deliberate.

I pass through all people now, all things.

Next there was a man with pursed lips holding his baby
and his baby reached out into the aisle –
singing

They are a song on the radio that I know.

You cast your shadow on my love while I was rolling a morning cigarette, not the first. I turned to you hoping you would bring it back or the sensation of it.
For the sensation of love. I sing along even when static crosses over.

I pass through you heading away from the sun.