HOME | DD

Description

Franchise French fries
and a Frosty
in the front seat chill of January—
  all I need is the swamp of you.
And to speak
with the backlit voice
through an intercom
in unhurried tones of decision,
  though I know what I want.
Static seasoning
the breath between us
as if we are far apart
  as if I am calling
  from a submarine at peacetime
  and the crew is happy
  but they miss their mothers—
  they have waited months
for the mail to come.

Because of my mom
we went to Wendy's.
Because Dave Thomas
was adopted as a baby,
before going on to found Wendy's
we went to Wendy's.
Because my mom was an orphan too
we went to Wendy's,
  which is notable
  for using fresh (not frozen)
  ground beef in square patties
  that hang over the edge of
  a round bun.
And I don't eat burgers anymore
but there is a square-peg-round-hole
phenomenon for each of us.

  There is a Dave Thomas for each of us.

My father quit ROTC
and says it's his great regret.
Dave Thomas quit high school
and learned to cook
in the Korean War.
Before I was 18
my father never asked
and I never told
until someone
  in the crepe paper dark
  of a dorm room
sighed and said,
  all your desires are sacred.

What a way to fall in love with wanting.

Tonight I am asking for
  hot and cold
  for grease and sweet
somewhere between chocolate and putty
a mouth up against a milk carton
  froth the color of gray matter,
  a bit purple
  a brain frozen
  a brain freeze.

Please.

The sentry in his sentry box
is not so far away.
And what he means to say is not
  pull up to the window

but rather,
  come up for air,
  you submarine,
  you draft dodger,
  you twilight party of one.

  All your desires are sacred.
  All you need is to speak them aloud.

    ~   Alicia Mountain

            ~ Mountain > Nantucket Sleighride      {1973} - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQQZ-h…

Description

Franchise French fries
and a Frosty
in the front seat chill of January—
  all I need is the swamp of you.
And to speak
with the backlit voice
through an intercom
in unhurried tones of decision,
  though I know what I want.
Static seasoning
the breath between us
as if we are far apart
  as if I am calling
  from a submarine at peacetime
  and the crew is happy
  but they miss their mothers—
  they have waited months
for the mail to come.

Because of my mom
we went to Wendy's.
Because Dave Thomas
was adopted as a baby,
before going on to found Wendy's
we went to Wendy's.
Because my mom was an orphan too
we went to Wendy's,
  which is notable
  for using fresh (not frozen)
  ground beef in square patties
  that hang over the edge of
  a round bun.
And I don't eat burgers anymore
but there is a square-peg-round-hole
phenomenon for each of us.

  There is a Dave Thomas for each of us.

My father quit ROTC
and says it's his great regret.
Dave Thomas quit high school
and learned to cook
in the Korean War.
Before I was 18
my father never asked
and I never told
until someone
  in the crepe paper dark
  of a dorm room
sighed and said,
  all your desires are sacred.

What a way to fall in love with wanting.

Tonight I am asking for
  hot and cold
  for grease and sweet
somewhere between chocolate and putty
a mouth up against a milk carton
  froth the color of gray matter,
  a bit purple
  a brain frozen
  a brain freeze.

Please.

The sentry in his sentry box
is not so far away.
And what he means to say is not
  pull up to the window

but rather,
  come up for air,
  you submarine,
  you draft dodger,
  you twilight party of one.

  All your desires are sacred.
  All you need is to speak them aloud.

    ~   Alicia Mountain

            ~ Mountain > Nantucket Sleighride      {1973} - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQQZ-h…