HERE AND THERE

He couldn’t sleep the night of the blizzard, the wind howled so hard.

   She couldn’t sleep the first night on the beach, the ocean roared so.

He used ear plugs to muffle it.

    She drank several martinis to forget.

The next day the sun came out, and the snow blinded him.

   The next day she wore sunglasses against the water’s glare.

He drove, sliding down the snow-packed street.

   The sand was thick, deep, difficult for her to walk on.

He pulled down his earflaps against the cold.

    Sweating, she wiggled into her swim suit.

By evening the sky promised more snow.

Late afternoon sky warned of rain.

He lost count of the boilermakers he drank that night before hitting the hay.

She wore ear plugs to drown party-noise from the next room.

Sharon Chmielarz’s latest two books are THE RHUBARB KING and THE OTHER MOZART, which had its premiere as an opera in January, 2009 in Baton Rouge.