By Curtis Crisler

The snow f e l l  like a miffed god took bites of cumulus clouds—spat them down
from  heaven,   o n t o  my Midwest — an idyllic snow-globe realm. The  s n o w-

covered the branches,  pulpy,  thick like  a l l  the trees were Douglas Firs. It  was
April 20th.  There were  blossoms  bursting  o u t    of branches,  headed   towards

spring,  blanketing a chronic white on white commotion.Love t o o k  me straight
to Prince. A day before 5th  anniversary of the   guitar player relocating to another

plane.  I  b u m p e d  his  b a c kbeat like meth. Every  body  antsy. My city under
resuscitation. “Here   Comes the Rain Again”—the  next  song in my ears. Annie

Lennox knew proper way  to  p l a c e  metaphors on  v i o l i n   strings.  I  r o d e
around—   this would be  the last snow   until the next snow. There’s nothing like

love  in  a  car,  being in the  s n o w,  letting   m u s i c   have me    and  bring me
back.      The officer who  k i l l e d   George Floyd will  s e e  bars.That’s history.

There’s that. There’s how Minnesota,  people around the  g l o b e,  exposed their
voices like a   universal tsunami — people morphed into army    of harmony. The

snow  moved  me in to Sun  Ra. He, and band, birthed  h a l l u c i n a t i o n s   of
“Images.”  The  ache  of   imagery,  too  much— so my tears  talked.  B r o k e n,

recouping, I drove deeper.  I videoed life like a young lady did outside storefront,
but it wasn’t  e n o u g  h  to  h o n e  the scratchy emotions unable to   e s c a p e,

acquiesce to good  trouble.  The emails.  The texts.  The chatter.  M i s s  me with
t h a t. I  drove  d e e p e r. The  snow  talked  in   s y l l a b i c  rumbles. Sun   Ra

p l a y e d   for  our  mystic  futures,  o u t     t h e r e.  I  pointed  car  t o w a r d s
M i n n e s o t a . D r o v e  for  out  there.  And   I  never  p u m p e d  the brakes. ■

 

 

Curtis L. Crisler was born and raised in Gary, Indiana. Crisler has four full-length poetry books, two YA books, and four poetry chapbooks. Also, he created the Indiana Chitlin Circuit. Crisler and is an Associate Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW). He can be contacted at www.poetcrisler.com.

Cover image of Minneapolis, Minnesota by Joe Passe (Creative Commons).

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