A darkening street, a bit of music.  After the first few minutes in Porto Badisco, I start to realize we’ve traveled here for entirely different reasons.  I want nothing more than to watch storms roll in off the coast.  But you seem mostly interested in the restaurant, its elaborate entrance glittering with the light of distant ships.  Before long, you insist on a table furnished with hors d’oeuvres.  You insist on dessert.  Still, the doors are locked & no one answers when we ring the little bell. 

By then I know I’m not going to make it to the ocean anytime soon.  I just stand near the window with a hammer, ready to break the glass.

***

Kristina Marie Darling is the author of over twenty books of poetry. Her awards include fellowships from Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, the Wurlitzer Foundation, and the American Academy in Rome, as well as grants from the Kittredge Fund, the Rockefeller Archive Center, the Lerman Trust, and the Elizabeth George Foundation.

John Gallaher’s most recent book of poetry is In a Landscape (BOA 2014). His poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry, Poetry, Boston Review, Chicago Review, and elsewhere. He lives in rural Missouri and co-edits The Laurel Review.