TINNED, canned shrimp would be fine

by Lynn Strongin

TINNED, canned shrimp would be fine
My life book-ended by war:
In between, a rich shelf life:

In my prime, what I really want is reassurance: it’s path-dependent
I smoked a Swedish cigarette for women
Went out, bought a bottle of stout

Got thin
like Twiggy. Imagined Ziggy.
Imagined wearing a backpack in a wheelchair:
         went to two coffeehouses: one hard, up two steps, had to be carried backward: one easy: there I met you who dropped a literary name: One played to win but other ways you lassoed me; still do in our eighties: it’s not over but in late swing, the party done. A rogue wave has come.