It’s now, she says. Now, & never again –
so we beat on, boats against the current
& swooned slowly, heard the snow
falling faintly through the universe. I
had been there before, lying on my back,
thumbing my nose at You Know Who,
which is why I don’t tell anyone anything.
If I do, I start missing everybody. Poo-
tee-weet said the bird under firebombs
& the old man was dreaming about lions.
Quién es? said Billy the Kid. Don’t let me
drop. There, on the ground under the almond
tree, pleasure of simple joys & the happy
summer days, borne back ceaselessly into
gray – there’s no good way to say goodbye.
Famous Last Words by Jim Davis
JIM DAVIS is a student of Human Development and Psychology at Harvard University and has previously studied at Northwestern University and Knox College. He occasionally reads for TriQuarterly and his work has appeared in Seneca Review, Santa Clara Review, Midwest Quarterly, and California Journal of Poetics, among others. He has received multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations and won many contests, including the Line Zero Poetry Prize. In addition to writing and painting, Jim is an international semi-professional American football player.