to a futon couch
you lie there
i lie on you
nibbling poems
tidbits of truth
in the form of lies
the evening slips away
me
slouched
on a futon couch
snapped upright
in theory at least
in reality
somehow askew
mattress straining to slide off
unsure what it’s doing here
why it exists
above floats
a mystery disc
the Earth
a half dome lighting late hours
**
i peek at the
blue and white swirl
the southern hemisphere
gaze north north north
boring through
water soil rock magma
focus on
the u. s. of a.
zoom in on
maryland
on
this town, this small house, this room, this futon couch
on
myself contemplating worlds
Above planets swirl;
a fan whispers me a cooling breeze
sweet company as I enter the realm
of poesy and dreams from around
this churning yearning sphere
**
i visit this futon couch
this room
this universe
every evening
lights dimmed
under doctor’s orders
to cure my insomnia
a slow calming before
the final plunge
into the universe of self
of nothingness
i visit nightly
this obscure room
long the realm of an occasional guest
of a cat briefly escaping its people
no stars wink
on the great ceiling
only blankness
once
we had planned
to strew suns comets galaxies
to keep watch upon the night
to be gazed at
to spread wonder and whimsy
in this small room we had built
for the child we never had
© Ethan Goffman
Ethan Goffman’s poems have appeared in BlazeVox, Mad Swirl, Madness Muse, Under the Bleachers, Ramingo’s Blog, and Setu, as well as the anthologies The Music of the Aztecs and Epiphanies and Late Realizations of Love. He is co-founder of It Takes a Community, a Montgomery College initiative that brings poetry to both students and local residents. In addition, Ethan is founder and producer of the Poetry & Planet podcast on EarthTalk.org.
The Loch Raven Review 