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Daniel Bliss
Thunder in the Distance
We were together five months
and learned almost nothing
about each other, apart from
discovering the freckles on your shoulders.
Imperfect circles that came out
three shades darker in summer,
partially concealed by the rough
petals of your half-finished
magnolia tattoo. You forgot
the cost of color. Separated,
we’re still living through brutal
weather on opposite sides
of Tulsa, failing to perform
the necessary but impossible task
of avoiding each other. You’re
panicked I’m with someone
I hardly know, wasting no time
getting over you, while I’m up late
worried you have a death wish
with the way you fall from barstools
nightly. Every storm crossing the prairies
has your name, for the way rolling thunder
breaks what I thought was a safe stillness.
Daniel Bliss is a world-traveling poet originally from Anchorage, Alaska. His poems often focus on relationships and the long list of places he's lived. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in League of Canadian Poets, Blood and Bourbon, BarBar, After Hours, Down in the Dirt, and many others.