False Orbits and All Good Wishes
A false orbit occurs when two objects seem to move in coordination, but, in reality, remain independent. It’s topics like this that my mind explores while sitting at a wooden bar, after all the family is in bed, blocks and blocks from my parent's guest room where I will sleep tonight, in search of a beer where years ago I would have found my hometown friends or someone I’d known since childhood. But, tonight is just myself and a slow, methodical shift of strangers coming and going, caught in the tidal movements of Coors on draft and a neon jukebox wrapped in Christmas lights flickering like the rest of us.
Pack up- all your dishes…
Coming back from far away doesn't just make you appreciate what you left; it also makes you realize the distance between two places. The little moments there but not here have stacked into something unrecognizable from the middle of Oklahoma and a childhood home, like two people walking on either side of a pole.
“You back for the holidays?” the bartender asks as we both glance out the glass door when the wind whistles and gusts.
“Hey, who sings this? Yeah, staying with the parents out past Midwest City. You have a kid, right? How are they doin?”
“She’s good, almost driving already actually.”
“Very nice.”
The holidays, happiness, and home all seem to be locked in a false orbit. They each stay equidistant from the others, but close enough to give the impression of relation. I guess it doesn’t really matter as long as I tap my sweating glass along to the music, the barstools left empty by people not escaping their childhood homes.
Take note- of all good wishes…
“Yeah she’s pretty great. I think this is Guy Clark.”
“Steve Earle did a version of this, too.”
“Did he?”
A group I don’t know opens the door to tell us it’s started snowing.
Wordlessly, we all move to the door, watching bits of snow curl under the picnic tables while the TAX BROTHERS sign across the street pops and hisses along with Guy Clark.
Love's a gift that's surely handmade
We got somethin' to believe in
Don't you think it's time, we're leavin'?
