"Toasting the Night Away" by Cliff Saunders

Toasting the Night Away

Here’s to music that would cut
a slice of heaven out of a hat.

Here’s to the formula for turning
clothes into dying wishes.

Here’s to a dog’s tail gaining
momentum as it chases its own orbit.

Here’s to the eight foam coolers
going around in circles, filling

almost as fast as they’re built with
white truffles and torn puppets.

Here’s to the blue codes of confusion,
where conflicts explode in a vacuum.

Here’s to the glass walking stick
plucked from a bucket of civility.

Here’s to the bee that makes men drool.
Here’s to a quiver full of sable needles.

Here’s to the star that listens to the crow,
criticized always for helping too much.

Cliff Saunders

Cliff Saunders is the author of several poetry chapbooks, including Mapping the Asphalt Meadows (Slipstream Publications) and This Candescent World (Runaway Spoon Press). His poem “Penikese Island Triptych” has just been published in the anthology From the Farther Shore: Cape Cod & the Islands Through Poetry (Bass River Press). Other recent appearances include The Midwest Quarterly, Nine Mile Magazine, Monterey Poetry Review, Blue Unicorn, and Progenitor Art & Literary Journal.

Headshot: Kathleen Chapman

Photo Credit: Staff