For John

We’d hunker down like hermits
in his open garage, barely beyond
the reach of rain and listen
to the footsteps of thunderstorms
approach.

We’d make up stories the way
we imagined children had done
down by the river’s edge
thousands of years prior
with the protection of the forest
behind them—

wondering which pantheon of gods
were angry with whom, why, and how long
they were to war
behind the clouds.

A lover of myths and stars
I always imagined the thunder
was Scorpio’s tail slamming
into the impenetrable ground
where Orion had just been

and because you loved to gamble
you always thought it was two
enormous giants, most likely cousins
of Odin who were angry
over a hand of poker.

You’d say—

One’s always chasing the other

and twenty-something years later
during the best thunderstorms we get
my grief keeps on sitting down
at the table with what chips
its loving spirit can buy,
always chasing.

Brandon C. Spaletta’s poem “Daydreaming” received an Honorable Mention for Day Eight’s 2023 Luce Prize, and his poetry has been published in Pictura Journal, Ghost City Review, Gargoyle Online, Dodging the Rain, Panoply, Elysium Review, Maryland Literary Review, WWPH Writes, and The Mid-Atlantic Review (formerly) Bourgeon). Contact Info: brandoncspaletta@gmail.com