Mark J. Mitchell

Evening Piece

Let us walk out to greet the sea.
You give your smile; I’ll leave my tears.
You’ll sing words I wrote on your mirror.
I’ll play flat chords in an air key.

We won’t bother the moon. Black trees
sway in time to what we don’t hear.
We’ll walk out as if we could see
smiles erased by forgiven tears.

You’ll guess at stars. I’ll map your needs
and be wrong as this time last year.
A wind will brush your hair. My ear’s
tickled. You move closer to me.
We stare out by our private sea.
My broken smile. Your silent tears.

Mark J. Mitchell has worked in hospital kitchens, fast food, retail wine and spirits, conventions, tourism, and warehouses.  He has also been a working poet for almost 50 years.  Hi latest novel, A Book of Lost Songs, was just published by Histria Books. An award-winning poet, he’s the author of five full-length poetry collections, and six chapbooks. His latest collection is Something To Be from Pski’s Porch Publishing.  He is fond of baseball, Louis Aragon, Miles Davis, Kafka, Dante, and his wife, activist Joan Juster. He lives in San Francisco, where he makes his marginal living pointing out pretty things.  He can be found on Bluesky @MJMitchellwriter