Like a silent lover,
Summer slipped out this morning.
The sheets were pulled aside.
Summer’s clothes were gone,
and my outstretched arm lay
under the phantom nape of her neck,
my body folded into her vacant back,
my hand caressed her missing thigh.
Autumn tried to slide into Sumer’s side of the bed,
(her mattress-impression doppelgänger)
but her feet were cold and sent
shivers through my shins, so
I told her she needed to put on socks
or get out of bed. She said maybe
it would be better if she started
making breakfast. I went back to sleep
and dreamed us two together again.
Tyler King is currently working toward his B.A. in English at Whitman College. His work has been published in The Binnacle, the December 2009 and 2010 issues of Quarterlife, and featured online at www.365tomorrows.com and trainwrite.tumblr.com. More of his writing can be found on his blog: tkfire.tumblr.com.
