This past Wednesday was my sweetie’s birthday, so my post is about Josh. We’ve been together for twelve years and I can say that no one expected it would last, including some of my subscribers. But here we are growing older together.
We are completely different. He’s an extravert and I’m an introvert. He loves people. And he talks to everyone he meets, no matter where he is. When he goes to Costco, it takes hours; he’s making friends on every aisle. If I were to go to Costco, I would be in and out and not have spoken to a soul, except the checker.
He knows the lyrics to every song. It’s amazing. The other day I said we should really figure out how to monetize that skill. He loves music. I prefer silence.
He has an eye for design. He loves midcentury modern, and we bought a small midcentury in 2016 that he remodeled. Living with a contractor comes in handy. He knows how to put colors together. He dresses much better than I do.
Josh also loves Porsches. When we met, he had a Porsche Targa. We had been together a couple of years when the car got a scratch. “Hand and Wheel”1 was initially inspired by Alfred Stieglitz’s photo of Georgia O’Keefe’s hand on the wheel of a car. But the poem really is Josh’s story.
I think Josh and I balance each out. He brings me out and I slow him down. I’ll never be a car aficionado, but through Josh I’ve come to love baseball and jazz. He goes to poetry readings. And he’s a good editor too and always my first and last reader.
Each week I like to share a couple of posts or writers I’ve really enjoyed. This past week I discovered
. He makes the most amazing collages. writes and I loved his most recent poem, “This Time.”
“Hand and Wheel” was originally published in MacQueen’s Quinterly. Because of the long lines in the poem, I’ve set the poem as an image.
Wonderful poem, LeeAnn. And thanks for introducing me to the work of Duane Toops :)
So much fills this poem; grief, love, family, connection. I scratched the bumper of our car last week, my husband still hasn't spotted it.