before the fading


last summer caroline decided
to become a brunette so every
evening we would take the
boat out past the pilings as the liquor
conquered our heads and the waves
slapped the hull your father had
varnished just days before
while your mother looked on and
sighed saying, "he loves
that god damned boat more
than anything" and we came to
the realization that she was
actually surrendering; waving
the white flag on her
marriage and her life
now that she knew the awful truth
about how the distance had
grown so vast between
them on all those winter nights
that we spent holding
hands and dreaming of warmer
days when we would be there,
on the water, with
beer on our breath and new
love in our chest;
love which would shine for years
before the fading.



lakeside


it was there in that
lakeside cabin
with the ducks gliding
by on the pond
we fished as boys
where you told me
how her love had
made you hate.
then, lips upturned, you
shielded your eyes and
hung your head and
veiled your joy as you
admitted to me that
you
were never so free as
the evening
you
clenched your teeth
and
gripped her throat
and
took her life.


m. travis walsh is an ardent traveler who currently resides in northwest arkansas. although he is just getting his feet wet in the online poetry world his first book-length collection of poetry entitled "bury me in my good shoes" will be available in early 2009.