castaway
by Sean Pravica
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(based off Edward Hopper’s Summer Evening)
the yellow porch light was a good place
to have this conversation
their faces half covered by tree shadows
the occasional moth flying by
to break the otherwise frozen moment
like life on a wooden island
cut off from the world and history
knowing that in this moment
their own was going to change
being seventeen
and new to heartbreak
she walked in quietly
numb
he looked into the darkness
without a kiss him goodnight
and stalled for a long minute
before he reentered the raw reality
of a world outside of them
he passed by her window
without sneaking in this time
to enter a place
where no one else
ever existed at all
he took a final look
from the quiet dirt road
to see the porch light still glowing
it would stay that way
throughout the cold night
until it shut off suddenly
unexpectedly
just like that
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