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Jennifer VanBuren Metronome A hint, whispered from stage right. The metronome ticks its reminder heart beats, breath sounds and memories of my your movements; still the words elude me. Since you have gone, Dr. V does not bother to ask about sexual side effects. He still insists on the usual lines: "Do you have trouble concentrating? Recovering words?" I took a hundred years of piano lessons and cannot remember the damn terms printed on that metronome. Forte, no not forte that's volume and staccato? Crescendo? No, that's volume again. I need speed speed! From the back seat our baby boy asks "Mommy, why is Mozart so sad?" And I tell him, "Maybe he lost something he really loved." And he says "I bet he lost his dog" and all I can say is "I lost my Latin and I don't think it's ever coming back." But it did. The moment your unfinished prescription fell and scattered across the bathroom tiles, they came to me, "Largo! Adagio! Allegro!" Steam whistles from the kitchen and I forget the name of that book you always wanted to read. Turbulence I inspected the rivets in the fuselage, all was smooth, smooth and still this friction! Thirty minutes we circle Dallas/Fort Worth. Did the captain mutter alive, alive into crosswind currents while the stewardess gave her light lilt reminder: if for nothing other than your own safety please remain in your assigned cabin, desire only that to which you are accustomed no lap napkin snap no twist top family prize. I promise I will not mix my piss with that of the upper class Wing tips tilt we fall like a feather in an updraft bound rebound pas de chat down the runway on padded-toe tires. Eyes closed I breathe deep the air jet slow my heartrate like a monk in an MRI tube. Overhead compartments are emptied of unsettled baggage row by row everyone knows we all wait our turn for midnight kisses from the cockpit. alive alive ©2007 by Jennifer VanBuren Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Jennifer VanBuren now lives in the beautiful Hill Country of Texas with her husband, two sons, cat, dog, and occasional lizard. She enjoys hiking, is addicted to Battlestar Gallactica, and spends most of her spare time publishing the online journal of poetry and art: Mannequin Envy. For more information see her Web site.

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