by Leah Mueller

for Russ  

November storm-watching
on the Pacific coast,
I saw you fierce
the first time. You:

afraid of webs and travel,
always giving me
the helm during gales.

Cheap Westport motel,
probably gone now.
Anchors and ashtrays

in the side yard,
decrepit station wagons
filled to overflowing
with fishing gear.

Ice-cold wind:
seventy miles per hour,
both of us bundled
against gusts.

Winter uprooted trees,
ripped limbs from trunks.
Howling and rowdy,
it spat bark like seeds
on the road to home.

Your face ecstatic,
you screamed “Come on,
let’s get closer to the water.”

So different from
our usual roles.
You: ready to hurl terror
like confetti to the storm,

and me, wanting
only to return to
the safety of our room.
&
&

Leah Mueller

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Leah Mueller is an indie writer and spoken word performer from Tacoma, Washington. She is the author of three chapbooks and five books. Her most recent book, ‘Misguided Behavior, Tales of Poor Life Choices’ was published in September, 2019 by Czykmate Press. Her new chapbook, ‘Death and Heartbreak’ (Weasel Press) is forthcoming in October, 2019. Leah’s work appears in Blunderbuss, The Spectacle, Outlook Springs, Atticus Review, Your Impossible Voice, and other publications. She was a featured poet at the 2015 New York Poetry Festival, and a runner-up in the 2012 Wergle Flomp humor poetry contest.

Artist: Mohamed Sobeha