Daniel Bliss

Parallel Ghosts

I’m brave enough not to ask 
what we do outside each other’s sight.

How delicate we seem, like a misstep
of affection will cause one of us to run. 

Everything we promise each other
is limited to the end of my driveway.

I haven’t found a way to admit how this year of you
redefined a decade in the Cumberland Valley.

Stay and give the left side of my mattress purpose. 
I’ll brew coffee the way you like,

late night, near white, too sweet, 
from aerosol can cream. 

If it’s necessary to pretend, I’ll set the clocks 
for an earlier hour, prolong night

until we find what it takes,
to make it to morning.

Daniel Bliss is a world-traveling poet originally from Anchorage, Alaska. Currently, he is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as part of the writing MFA program at the University of Saskatchewan. His poems often focus on relationship to the long list of places he's lived. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in League of Canadian Poets, Blood and Bourbon, BarBar, After Hours, Down in the Dirt, and many others.