Baskadia

You’re the day after Tuesday, before eternity.

You’re the day we ran out of tomatoes

and used tiny packets of ketchup instead.

You are salt, no salt, too much salt, a hangover.

You hold the breath of an abandoned cave.

Sometimes you surprise me with your aurora borealis and I’ll pull over to watch you; I’ll wait in the dark shivering fields of you.

But mostly, not. My students don’t care for you

or your lessons from the life of a minor god.

Can you hit the high C in our anthem?

Can you bench press a national disaster?

I fear for you, Wednesday.

Your papers are never in order.

Your boots track in mud.

You’re the day I realized I didn’t even like him,

and the day I still said yes, yes, yes.

Sometimes I think you and I should elope,

and leave this house of cards to shuffle itself.

You are love, no love, too much love, a cuckold.

You are the loneliest of the three bears, hoping

to come home and find someone in your bed.