a cotton candy sky
satisfies my sweet tooth
for the words i could not speak

a woman tosses her garbage away
as she proclaims
the union square!
with a chuckle
to no one

i go to the store and buy
two of everything
two days after you asked me
what my middle name was
and told me that whenever you see me
you can't sleep at night

the sun rises as i wonder
why you never call me
in those moments
when the thought of me
tugs at the loose strings
of the slumber neither of us surrender to
the navy sky turning into
a blue so pale and bright
that it is almost yellow

[She’s] a remarkable collaborator, and she’s a shiksa goddess and a trapeze artist, all of that. She can fix the truck. Expert on the African violet and all that. She’s outta this world. I don’t know what to say. I’m a lucky man. She has a remarkable imagination. And that’s the nation where I live. She’s bold, inventive and fearless. That’s who you wanna go in the woods with, right? Somebody who finishes your sentences for you.

∆ Tom Waits, on his wife and longtime collaborator Kathleen Brennan