I am so overcome with emotion when I am around you

 that I fear I will never be able to tell you how much I admire you

 for your birthday

I will often recall our evening in new york 

Sitting across from you, stained wood holding your body upright.

How your head moved in step with the gusts of country music blowing in. 

Mirrors lined the bar, fables and trinkets of Midwest basements. 

There are few things I cherish more than cribbage now. 

Not because of the sheer thing itself, great as it is, but because it was taught to me by you. 

You are a miscellany

A rupture in the boredom of the sidewalk 

The tupperware that seals and fits neatly in the fruit drawer. 

(the best relief).

Long distance companion 

Rooted cedar with limbs stretched 

Leaves enthralled with your every word. 

Miles away, there is an owl’s nest. 

A hole you fill. 

Spaghetti tavern lives on in lore

My memory recalls it fondly 

A woman like you, sitting across from me on a rickety bar stool

Is sure a sight for sore eyes. 

Toes curled to stay on. 

Time stood still, on that Sunday night in Midtown. 

I return often: half naked, lichen slippers

In order to press my snotty nose to the glass

And peer inside at your beaming face. 

Best face I ever saw. 

I will often recall our evening in new york 

Sitting across from you, blonde bob and a knife’s wit. 

Lucky doesn't cut it; you are Elysian.