Backyard neighbors
decades before
& three funerals
later, they meet again
at the grocery store
after he’s wintered
in San Diego.
Trade suggestions
for cinnamon rolls,
updates on great-
grandchildren.
Spend July twilights
on her screened porch,
iced tea from a pitcher.
There are short story
collections to read
aloud, Scrabble scores
to tally, Netflix rentals
of DeNiro & Streep

for they have rescued
each other from suppers
over the sink & a box
of Cheerios, telephones
draped in cobwebs,
hauntings by happier
holiday weekends;
presented one another
with the bouquet
of Let’s & Would you
                      like to

This poem first appeared in Orange Room Review.
Used here with the author’s permission.