<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Stardust Lounge<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">My mother came for a visit</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">even though she died last spring.</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">She was standing by the foot of my bed</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">releasing vowels from the afterlife</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">smelling of moss and spring rain</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">on the tarmac.</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Here we go again, old recipes and lectures,</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">I thought, stumbling out the door into the back yard</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">while the history of all forgotten things</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">was leaking out of her apron pockets</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">like the Andromeda strain or the Milky</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Way filled with impossible features of dead stars.</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">All she really wanted was for me to follow</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">her lead in this shuffle-foot shim-sham, this</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">millennial foxtrot of flesh turning into</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">stardust, that long unwinding road</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">pale as beer made from wheat where</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">we all crowd into a room and wait for</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">the unmarked bus to transport us into the highlands</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">of the forever lands. This is the way it feels</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">when she presses her hand against the small of my back.</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">The valley gorge that rests between my hips and heart</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">wakes up and smiles and even the smallest bones</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">like the swing when she says anything is possible</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">and I want to answer her but am lifted off my feet</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">shucking the chrysalis of my life, resurrecting the</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">boogie-woogie, dancing in the midnight arms</p><p style="direction: ltr; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">of her Stardust Lounge.</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Devreaux Baker</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></body></html>