you knew me yesterday

when we were beaten by the pigs on michigan avenue
the '68 chicago democratic party convention
our skins were soft but more bitter than
the rocks in the street
our handkerchiefs masking
teargas burn
we sat on the curb as you ripped away our shrouds
and kissed me like a lover facing the gallows
tongues on fire
glimmering bayonet columns
the crack of approaching billy clubs
but you kissed me
in the flash of floodlights and sirens
that the whole world was watching

you knew me yesterday
stoned and watching reefer madness
you breaded and fixed zucchini with hash
just before we crashed
just before dawn
just after you fucked me silly
giggling-silly
just before we cried
consumed in the perfect moment
the fluke connection
symmetry reason purpose
the pain of tomorrow

you knew me yesterday
hiking a dusty mesa near holbrook arizona
sun piercing a hard but less bitter skin
tentative cautious stepping
down to the banks of the little colorado
down on all fours grabbing clawing into its
cool damp underbelly
soothing our faces in the brown grainy mud of the anasazi
ancient scientists of the canyons
prophets of the river

you knew me yesterday
naked and lost in the boundary waters
canoe slipping up quiet on a bull moose
a grey wolf
a family of partridges
we were in love with partridges
and then you fucked me silly
giggling-silly
under mosquito netting
a yellow moon
a silhouette of black straight tamarack
the smell of pine sap and spring
the rush of snowmelt to the river

you knew me yesterday
but not today
as the door closes between us
and we weep in silence

---- e b bortz

(published in Conflict of Interest #1, 1995)