Night Encounter

    I was walking back from the bar. It was early, but the sun was already beneath the western horizon. The sidewalks were slick and shiny with black and grey ice; they were reflecting the yellow twinkle of the overhead street lights.
    I heard yelling on the street in front of me. It echoed off the dark houses and down the corridors of the ice capped alleyways.
    "Fucking bitch!"
    "Fuck you! Did you hear what I said?"
    A man slipped down the shadowy steps of the house, illuminated over with motion censor stoplights mounted to the facade of the almost-Victorian style home next to twelfth street.
    "This is all bull shit! Don't you come back here. My mom. My dad. My brother's will fuck you up."
    "Fuck me up! Fuck me up? Go ahead, fuck me up.
    I slowed my pace and stared, bewildered by the scene in front of me. The man who had fallen down the icy steps then turned to look at me. "Who are you?"
    I stopped. "No one."
    "Well mind your own fucking business."
    He walked off towards the river. I walked the other way.
    The next day, I read in the newspaper that a man had froze to death underneath the Columbia street bridge.

Aaron C. Molden

Gone Again

I woke up and found

her sleeping on the

mattress set out

in the front room.

All the floors in the house

are wood paneling,

except for the kitchen.

Contemplate the

logistics of this

reasoning.

She has a boyfriend

who is thousands

of miles away.

If she hadn't I

would have asked

her to sleep with

me in my bed,

only four hours

prior, when everyone

was trailing off towards

their bedrooms and

beds as quickly

as the could get there,

only an hour before

the sun would rise,

though none of us

would ever see it.

Gray skies

gray skies for days

gray skies for weeks.

Of course we were drinking

of course we were with

friends.

Of course.

I must have said good

night to her

because I know

I would never

allowed myself

not to.

In the morning

I found her still

sleeping on the

mattress.

I crouched down

by her head and

touched her shoulder.

"I have to go to work."

She grasped my hand.

"You should stay here."

She smiled.

She pulled my

hand to her cheek.

"Jesus, I'm going to

miss you."

"Visit me" she said.

"I will."

I kissed her forehead.

"Be safe."

I drove to work.

She got on a plane.

This is the truest

thing I have written

in a while.

This moment

cuts me the deepest.

No cum.

No cunt.

No matter.

The cum and the cunt can

come when they want.

After this,

my thoughts are on

tomorrow.