Twenty-nine years together
A decade of legal marriage
Pat's tapered hands
Can't wear our wedding ring
During swims.
On our first date, Pat said,
"You'll never find anyone
Better than me."
Pat doesn't get poetry.
Maybe if she's the subject,
It will make better sense.
Paris, a Chicago dance club,
Was the site of our earliest
Classically romantic moments.
Pat would slow-dance with me,
her eyes, messaging mine.
Pat says she lured me with
Her cooking, and that's partly
True.
All these years, and four homes
Later, she encouraged me to
Continue loading water into the
Redbud gators in the deep sun of
This Memphis July morning by
Calling to me from the front step,
"I'm making you an omelet with
Baby bella mushrooms."