AFTER HAWAII

After Hawaii

After Hawaii, it was oddly hot
And humid here at home, like after Austin
Some summer ago, as though somehow I brought
Weather with me, a souvenir not lost in
Transit between vacation and the job,
This climate in a locket on a fob,
As memories made manifest in things:
I pull it from my pocket to remind me
Better days wait in time, not place, which brings
A promise that another trip may find me,
However heavily institution tries,
Unfettered by these Lilliputian ties.
A longing follows with the memories
Which haunts perceptions of the place one lives, in
Surprising ways and, changing how one sees
All previous places, yearning, the past gives in
To that imaginary tension when,
Wanting long gone, one longs to go again.

KLK

7/24/06