Reflecting on the beginnings of 20+ and counting Valentine's Days with 
Yearning Sestina
My head hits the table as I long for your arms
You’re busy with family and hanging out with your pop
The beer is cold and I take a swallow
While listening to the radio’s latest jam
My mind works to remember every detail it can
When the world felt so fine
Before that damn red zone and parking fine
When I pleaded for mercy and threw up my arms
As a weekend clown you do what you can
Bills are paid late and your kids split a pop
At the 7-11 while picking up PB & Jam
The fizz is gone, but you take the last swallow
Returning to my mind like a Capistrano swallow
Your silhouette looks so fine
Somehow, I’ll get through this jam
Maybe take the advice from my brother in arms
I drift into fantasies that end with a pop
Of a squirt gun filled in a watery trash can
I check my phone messages again while I can
There’s no signal, except the lump in my throat, so I swallow
the question of trust and think of my pop
Pretending to be so strong and so fine
Working through life using head, hands, and arms
Smoking, thinking, talking his was out of a jam
The radio’s snappin’ a Town Called Malice, by the Jam
“Ba ba ba ba ba da da,” I sing along with whatever I can
Malice, fighting, head to head, arms to arms
I force the thoughts away, and dry-throated I swallow
Choking on the past, breathing in the future fine
Fine in my mind, until the present goes pop!
The telephone rings and it’s snap, crackle, pop
Please please be the one. Release me from desire’s jam!
That voice on the line so cool and so fine
Can I meet you at midnight? I can.
The clouds over Black Mountain the blue moon seems to swallow
And glowing, I melt into your arms
The moral for me is to believe all you can
Don’t settle for the flat left overs, just devour and swallow
Fresh, fizzy dreams in your true lover’s arms
Reflecting on the beginnings of 20 Valentine Days so far...