sideways rain

By Taylor Jacob Pate


tomorrow i woke up & dreamed you dancing me
on a streetcar. you said orange juice is the perfume

of the rain. you said 2 weeks isn’t that long when
you sit in windows & shake your heart enough. i

hope i’m being mechanical. i’ve already calculated
the risk of you. mooncrust goes down smooth like

yellow & white, like some other kind of sheer,
some kind of nylon wind. can i just start again?

tomorrow i woke up to the sound of my arms
becoming railroad ties & you’re always 1 step

more careful than me. slow down you said. you can’t
always fall like sideways rain you said. like a sunset

setting the diner table full of matches, plastics just
get in the way & i have to strain to see you across

the map. across the creases, across the stone of buildings.
i wish it were morning all of the time. tomorrow i

woke up remembering you with my hands, kinesthetic
energy. a crescendo, an aggressive smell, beautiful

tracing. you said let’s dissolve. you said regency,
& you’re being mathematical again, blueberry darling.


Taylor Jacob Pate is the editor of www.smokinggluegun.com. His poems have appeared in American Backstitch, dcomP, Anemone Sidecar & Everyday Genius. 

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