Frayed bends of pages
shuffle from between
the ends of ages:
a notebook, seen
through many years
of a young man’s life;
While you shifted gears
from girlfriend to wife
and watched me grasp
the bare, stripped ends
of a wish by the wires, clasped
and burning in my hands,
what you must know now.
After fifteen years in,
what you must know now.
When I learned of what you’d said and discovered what you really are, my first thought was revenge. After my mother took you in (when no one else wanted you, and I see why) you threatened to beat her. When she was diagnosed with cancer, you told her she wouldn’t live to see her grandchild. …
Look, every child makes a choice on some later, grown-up day to seek glory or not. Okay? For some, the voice is an inescapable ghost, assuring them: they are meant for more, to open up the frightening door, to stand where “branch” becomes “stem” and to make bets on themselves. I don’t mean to say …
I am everything I know now (and not much else) and you are everything, too. Every word I say is like a bridge in Michigan. My hands have hurt in these last few weeks, right elbow locking and frying some ulnar nerve without real provocation, and when I stay up late or I, in distraction, …
If the world were comprised of people like our mother, it would be clean and orderly – there would be no poor people or lack of social justice. The world would be devoid of hatred and spite. Everyone would have food and hope. Everyone would have a good story to share and the friendliness to …
All night, for days: the wind blows and blows. I was so happy it was warm enough to open windows during my birthday week, that even though the wind blew and blew things all over the office and tore magnets off of our refrigerator, I did it anyways. I opened windows; the wind blows and …
I know that she’s a little older and maybe that’s what made you bolder but now I’m sure your love is colder while you wait on bail I’ll bet she smiled thin, like a wire stooping as she set the fire did you maybe kick the tires before you went to jail We spend our …