(For Alicia Mathias)

I hope we outlive each other

as outliving is the spice plus all

the homilies one could ever cast

like a family quilt over us.

Outliving is reserved for the few,

the few outliving each other.

Outliving is the cat’s meow

like a cocoon shrouded in silk

so fine it deflects advances

by the Reaper prowling our

daily heartaches & dreams,

silk so fine sifting seasons

like they were the hazelnut

tadpoles flopping a West Palm

mud puddle after a rainstorm

along Gun Club Road just east

of Hilti’s Texaco station, tadpoles

with beansprout appendages,

& from that moment on, during

that one glorious moment forward,

outliving everything became

all the rage.

Outliving each other has been our

mission statement since the dawn.

If there’s a better alternative,

I can’t imagine it.

How about you?