Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Friday, February 25th - "Balm"


Spending the last waning hours of daylight
sprawled out on the couch, you confess

you once told a lover
that you could only get off

by ripping off his head. At the time
this seemed like harmless fun, a way

to bring a little more danger to what
had admittedly turned into a bit

of a routine, but somehow
he had believed you, had tried

to convince you not
to fall in love with violence, to cherish

his embodiment, fully formed
and nearly functional. Well,

none of us are really
formed and functional, you said, so

maybe I'm just being honest, just
externalizing the metaphor. I know

you expect me to be amused
by this simple anecdote, to smile

and remark on how silly
you once were, but instead

I stroke my wisp
of a beard thoughtfully,

and after some time spent
tracing the shadows of our faces

on the windowpane, remark
that if you must always

make sure your lover
is somehow incomplete, at least

you could try to find
the common courtesy

to leave him a bandage
to wrap himself in come morning.

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