Bargaining With Bad Luck

By Timothy Tarkelly

We use the same few tricks
to get from place to place.
On the way up, but tethered
to some pretty dirty habits,
icebreakers about our dreams,
about karaoke and hair gel,
how the volume is just grating in here.
And did you know your eyes
are as blue as the silicone trim
on my phone case? That if you hold
your ear to my ear, you can hear
the subtle waves of a polluted, brown ocean?
Let’s talk about our exes,
their punishing past chained to our ankles,
even though they’re on their backs,
their legs fully extended in a toast
to what we could have been. 
Let’s talk until a bruised and buzzed
hope foams at the surface, gets the light
to change shade just a little,
just enough to turn our envy into
lime juice. I love it when a night
ends way better than it started. 

Timothy Tarkelly's work has appeared in Jupiter Review, Unstamatic, Rhodora Magazine, and others. His third book of poems, On Slip Rigs and Spiritual Growth, was published by OAC Books in July 2021. When he's not writing, he teaches in Southeast Kansas.