Two Poems by Chad W. Lutz

Breeze That Bears Your Name

A slow wind blows like saccharine

bearing your name against the hillside

where we used to sit and talk about Love. I gaze out upon

a million dancing daffodils, alive like

fire in the golden sun. A bird cries fowl

at a fellow flock sending fish hooks off course through

the valley below. I, too, cringe at its piercing shriek

and wish the bird to go away so that I may be

peacefully surrounded by something that

still wears your name. I wish for it to keep blowing,

even though I know I am in vain.

 

 

 

 

Foresight in the Rear-View Mirror

 

The moment I realized I didn’t love you anymore,

I was staring in my rear-view mirror.

There was an overweight ode to plastic surgery and Botox

Haphazardly bombing a pudgy face with McDonald’s and Mary Kay

At a stop light just outside of town.

 

She was wearing a pair of those giant, bug-like sunglasses that devour half of your face.

In her one hand was a smartphone, and in the other anything but the wheel.

Diamonds sparkled around her neck with the same abandoned glisten as the interior

Of her over-priced Cadillac.

 

I looked to the West, to the sun, shining bright in the afternoon sky.

Still dripping from my 10-mile run and sporting a windswept hairdo,

I got that familiar feeling.

 

The same feeling found in a dry, desert wind,

Or in early-morning sunlight cresting on an unbridled beach.

 

An American flag blew gently in the breeze above my car attached

To a weather-worn electric pole.

A dozen motors must’ve been buzzing around me at that crossroads,

But all I could hear was my heart.

 

I called you that night, and put an end to it; to a dream never meant to be.

Just in the nick of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chad W. Lutz was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1986 and lives in the neighboring suburb of Stow.An avid athlete, activist, writer and musician, Chad holds a BA in English with a Minor in Writing from Kent State University, Class of 2008. His work has been featured in Diverse Voices Quarterly Journal, The Drunken Odyssey, The Dying Goose, Haunted Waters Press and AltOhio.com. He currently works as head content writer for an online job applications website in North Canton, Ohio, and aspires to run the marathon in the 2016 Olympic Games.