flipping through frames
—a poem by Rob Plath

you flip thru snapshots
you feel jealous at how intimate
this couple seems
the imprints of her red mouth
forever up & down his cheek
their heads always temple-to-temple
as if inventing their future
the eternal cigarette they always
seem to be sharing
their hands always lifting
a drink to one another
then you summon the un-captured images
dark war-paint beneath their eyes
shards of broken glasses in their fists
like makeshift shanks
the chalk outline of their love on the floor


_

Rob Plath is a prolific writer and Literary Editor for The Commonline Journal. He is the author of eight chapbooks and three full-length poetry collections. His novel Swallowtude (2016) and his poetry collection The Skeleton Sutras (2016) are both forthcoming from Epic Rites Press. His webpage is www.robplath.com.