The Poem Around the Corner

These days,

between cancer and chemo,

my brain isn’t what it used to be,

I get snippets of poems,

a half of a line,

a thought, a jolt,

but when I try to collect it

into a series of words,

it melts like the shimmering puddles

on a hot summer highway.

I can see it, I can taste it,

it is a poem just around the corner,

I see a flash of its red shirt,

a pony tail, and maybe some sneakers,

but the poem is a mirage

gone before I see it fully

gone into the shimmering

puddle of a cloudy mind.

I know its there, and maybe

I will find it, maybe it will slow down

and I will speed up, but for today,

the poem is just a slip in the alley.