Christopher Grillo
Driving Home from the Bar with Frankie, Winter
Frankie and I are half drunk and laughing,
trying to keep count of snowflakes driving into the storm.
We talk about the years, how they used to drag on
like phone poles, or exit signs on the roadside,
you can see them come and go the whole way,
until time starts to come up on you quicker,
like fence rails that blur together the faster you drive,
till more years have passed than you care to count,
but I still think we should try and follow just one flake,
from as far off as we can see, until the moment
it hits the windshield, explodes like rocket glare
in flood lights, sits as water for one more second,
pleading, till the wiper comes down like a scythe,
sweeps it away.
Christopher Eugene Grillo is an education professional and recent graduate of Southern Connecticut State University’s MFA program. He has published both fiction and poetry in various national magazines including Extracts, Up the River, Indian Short Fiction, Drunk Monkeys, The Noctua Review, Lunch Ticket Press, Referential, The Elm City Review, Aethlon, and more. Christopher is Noctua Review’s Connecticut State University’s Poetry Prize runner up and a 2014 Best of Net nominee. He moonlights as a high school football coach at his alma mater, North Haven.
Driving Home from the Bar with Frankie, Winter
Frankie and I are half drunk and laughing,
trying to keep count of snowflakes driving into the storm.
We talk about the years, how they used to drag on
like phone poles, or exit signs on the roadside,
you can see them come and go the whole way,
until time starts to come up on you quicker,
like fence rails that blur together the faster you drive,
till more years have passed than you care to count,
but I still think we should try and follow just one flake,
from as far off as we can see, until the moment
it hits the windshield, explodes like rocket glare
in flood lights, sits as water for one more second,
pleading, till the wiper comes down like a scythe,
sweeps it away.
Christopher Eugene Grillo is an education professional and recent graduate of Southern Connecticut State University’s MFA program. He has published both fiction and poetry in various national magazines including Extracts, Up the River, Indian Short Fiction, Drunk Monkeys, The Noctua Review, Lunch Ticket Press, Referential, The Elm City Review, Aethlon, and more. Christopher is Noctua Review’s Connecticut State University’s Poetry Prize runner up and a 2014 Best of Net nominee. He moonlights as a high school football coach at his alma mater, North Haven.
