I Lost
I lost my God
And my faith
In this world
I lost my reason
And my will
And my books
And my children
And the woman
I love and still
I never gained
Insight
No Victor
Prostrate in the bed we used to share
On a Sunday night
Staring at all the nothing
And thinking about how swell life was
For those too brief interludes
Between the disasters
When you would hold me so close
And I could feel your heart beat
Wondering what you’re doing now
Since you broke my heart in two
And disappeared with my light
And my hope
Just then the phone rings
Just like it used to
When you’d make your
“Sorry I’m calling so late”
Phone calls
My heart mends for a moment
And I answer it
Not knowing what I will say
But screaming I Love You
I need your voice
In my mind
As my pulse pounds
In my ears
I answer the phone
And when the man on the line
Asks to speak to Victor
I tell him he has the wrong number
Because there is definitely no victor here
And there never will be
Poem # 226
Just as I was ready for her –
Her feet upon my rug,
Her body in my bed,
Her coffee smells in my nose,
The way her upper lip looks when she sips;
Her positivity, her proclivities,
Her anger when drunk,
Her endless enigmas…
Just as I was ready for her
She was not ready for me
In spite of how long
We both waited
So here’s another poem about that.
A Plucked Flower
I refuse to be a plucked flower
That is pulled from the ground,
Clipped, sprayed to look shiny
And put in a bouquet or garland
With the others.
There is all over the world
There is all over the world,
but I live here.
There are these millions of women everywhere,
but here I am with you.
And I have this job,
and I raise these kids,
and I eat this food you place
before me.
I come and I go
with each tide of chance,
every ripple of circumstance.
There is all over the world,
but I die here.