Smoke
a distant smell
left in mid Midwest
with you
It surprised you
somehow
that I remembered
when I claim to forget
Lies of abundance
curling at the edges
as the flame
overflows the cup
The Answer
I think you
and your words appear
a coincidence cultivated
by thinking you often
Half-hope
in the interim
I’ve been forgotten
a margin exaggerated
Altruistic negligence
my love at arms length
an abstract offering
made of me
I’m there for you
all you have to do is ask
question unknown
the story so far
Inculpable
I’d miss you more
if I could
love you more
if there were a way
to measure the meaning
of more
Qualitatively consume me
if it makes merit
feed on flesh
that sings your praise
I’ll lop a different love off
if you ask
Letters I’ve written
on what this love is like
I’d send them daily
if it made a difference
hourly
if it’s what you need
You said I was stupid
and I agreed
incapable of loving you more
whatever that means
incapable of loving you less
if only
Restless
His leg won’t let go
of that other place
the one on the end
of what used to be a line
Home in hand
his food turned fast
as half-hearted fork
fails to reach face
It makes me half-smile
impatience for a world
he can speak to
so very far away
The other half
a growing resentment
noise I know well
and my lack thereof
A Wish Resigned
I’m offering this last complacency
an outstretched dream
freshly dreampt
You were weightless
save a smile
I may never get to see
but made anyways
made to hurt
from all my favorite sad stories
Delicately placed
atop a photo
fogged by one trying to forget
and failing
your features
remade to phenomenon
A universe in my arms
carried across sleep’s threshold
a bride made bridge
to barren home
rental really
real estate I don’t own
The loneliness is mine
along with a few books
in a box
spines safely out of sight
memories I’m saving
for when I settle down
If it were you
it would be easy
the you who made it hard
to stop sending letters
that failed at words
three syllables left stranded
As I hope this finds you
I dread it might
remembered love by morning’s light
Affective Disorder
Know my love
is spring
Embarrassed bloom
but briefly
Perfumed heel
when you depart
Cloying cling
of color
Excess
cut short
Fuzzy Math
Remainder rounded
time dilated
the longest moment
of us
Waking up
your absence
turning abscess
leaking into dream
To forget you
once ablution
now routine
if only
It’s over
and over again
make misery
my love
