Transient qualities of us:

Tactile sensations relinquished from the material form in senescence;

Degradation of the visible for dulled delineation of physical objects;

Presbycusis and sensorineural to dampen the aural faculty;

The best ribs I ever had were at that one place in Memphis

with the checkered tablecloths and the house pop served with a lime

in the summer heat of early August on the way north

back to the cheap apartment with a view of the river

where we sat outside and smoked all day

and sang songs about lives we ought to be living

in the same town we were all from,

I’ve never had ribs better than those.

The smell of lilac is loveliest to a child.