Anything Is Doable In the Dark

I wonder if today’s hail,
Coarse granules of frigid rain
Best suited for some icy summer drink
Forebodes the closing of the flower stall
Across that pretty plaza
Beneath my colorless cold-water flat,
Forebodes the delayed arrival of
The only man who makes me giggle
As I curl my eyelashes,
For now I have someone
To curl my eyelashes for
Other than in delicious daydreams,
Reveries at painful odds with
The truth I winced at in the mirror.
But my friend saw into my eyes,
Saw into my soul
As he eyed me sipping an Oreo malted.
He coaxed me with his kindness,
Not with his vision,
Telling me I’d look lovely in lilac lace,
Beaming a smile of surreal sincerity
And intense interest
In something he couldn’t possibly comprehend
Yet did.
His hand softly upon mine
Like dew upon bluegrass,
He mischievously mouthed the words,
“Anything is doable in the dark.”
Just that.
And it was.
So now I listen for his footfall
As a sign to extinguish the lights.

Adrian Slonaker works as a copywriter and copyeditor in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He holds a Master’s degree in interdisciplinary humanities from California State University — Dominguez Hills. His interests include vegetarian cooking, Slavonic languages, Victorian horror fiction, wrestling, and 1960s pop music.