"Infinity Crackles"

This is another one for Rachel DeLeon Purvis, my anam cara--it's not deep; this is just what it's like to smoke a Cherry Djarum clove cigarette and think of her voice.

a crackle as i
take the first breath
driving, always secondary
state highways, sometimes
heading north, but it always
feels like west sometimes,
late afternoon sun
at my back, but it always
feels like fresh damp morning
watching flat land turn
shades of cardboard and pavement
leaves blowing
across two worn lanes, but it always
feels like the first rites of spring
a cherry kiss, peach wine bliss,
dancing, always dancing, sometimes
on trails paved over while we slept
or while we grew away, but always
on roads we haven't yet seen, always
a crackle as the smell
of burning cherry fills the air.
10.14.04