Relentless Fog by Jim Bourey

Dream on cowboy was what I heard
from the left as I walked up Market Street.
And I was dreaming, but not about having sex
with the six-foot tall, barefoot drag queen
repeating the phrase again and again as
he/she leaned next to a neon sign flashing
            OPEN ALL NIGHT.

  No, I was dreaming
about not going home. Dreaming a story
involving me and the bookstore assistant
manager who ignored every other customer
while we discussed (so seriously) if Rexroth
was too old to lead this renaissance. I mean
she got me. And she had some dough
so we wouldn’t starve. And I’m sure
she let me kiss her and feel her
whole body when she took me
into the backroom to find books
filled with illuminations.

Dream on cowboy ~ again. And I realized
I was standing on the curb staring
at the bookstore where the beautiful
assistant manager was locking up.

She said good night
to the drag queen, looked through me,
turned downhill towards the relentless fog.

Jim Bourey is an old poet who divides his year between the Adirondack Mountains and Dover, Delaware. His chapbook “Silence, Interrupted” was published in 2015 by the Broadkill River Press. His work has appeared in Mojave River Review, Paddock Review, Gargoyle and the Broadkill Review and other journals and anthologies. He was first runner up in the Faulkner-Wisdom Poetry Competition in 2012 and 2016. He has served as an adjudicator for the Poetry Out Loud competition in Delaware. In his North Country months, he is active with the St. Lawrence Area Poets and has taken part in Art/Poetry projects in Saranac Lake.