R.T. Castleberry’s work has appeared in Blue Collar Review, K’in, Pedestal Magazine, Misfit, Trajectory, The Alembic and The Raconteur Review. Internationally, it has been published in Canada, Great Britain, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Portugal. the Philippines and Antarctica. They have had poetry in the anthologies: Travois-An Anthology of Texas Poetry, TimeSlice, The Weight of Addition, Anthem: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, You Can Hear the Ocean: An Anthology of Classic and Current Poetry and Level Land: Poetry For and About the I35 Corridor.
The map of the world has changed since I photographed you; faded in its frame, ink lighter with the seasons. No Siam, no Burma, one Vietnam. Across the room your cheekbones are sharper, hair shorter, bright blonde as your lips and nails are red. Aroma from a whiskey tumbler reveals polite wine lost to single malt. Surgical, your laugh slices the room, precise as heels across an Aztec tile floor. You step out where I stand to smoke, to stare at the waxing moon. We don’t speak until, You look tired. You always look tired. You should rest more. It’s an old routine and I smile. We share history. Landscape altered, arranged for success, the road we drove to a party is paved now, darkness into light, crowned by anchor store, coffee shop and café. The Pine Drive apartment we shagged in still exists, same paint, heavier traffic. You managed me through marriages, the other men who caught your breath in autumn, in summer. I didn’t see a ring. When you left alone, I didn’t follow.
The Raconteur Review 