The Way You Look Tonight

Peter Cameron

It chafes you, I know, this
Remorseless penchant for drama
I have. Life is too short

Or, sometimes, too long, and the
Bees hurrying through their
Choreographed delusions remind

Us of that time we mistook Rhode
Island for Maine. An easy mistake,
You said, despite the brutal

Repercussions. Now is the
Time when a little wariness would not go
Amiss. The tribes that once cultivated

These mudflats have fled to higher
Ground and have traded their moccasins for
Pinafores. Tonight, you look

Lovely, but perturbed, as the pin
Feathers escape the eiderdown, and
Gather, incrementally, at their designated meeting place.

Peter Cameron is the author of six novels and several collections of stories. The Drawbacks of Living, a work of fiction, will be published in 2018. He lives in New York City and Vermont.
Originally published:
July 1, 2018

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