PARALLEL PLAY
 
Out of the yard
to the path in the woods,
the music and voices receding.
Looking up, the moon appears
through breaks in the clouds, 
through breaks in the trees.
He takes a deep breath,
now into the street
and two blocks down,
to the neon signs of Verna’s Pizza.
Meghan’s working the counter tonight. 
He’ll say “Hey”
and “What’s going on?”
and smile, and Meghan will smile,
and the neon signs
will zap and buzz.
Then he’ll head back,
pizzas in hand.
Two blocks down
to the path in the woods.
The quiet, the moon,
now lights in the distance,
now music and voices.
 
 
This poem first appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Spring-Summer 2022, Vol 89, Nos. 1-2.