a Poem - La Dispute

Third time writing you a letter, getting darker

I’m getting worse and worse

I had a reason for the writing, but trying to exorcise my demons didn’t work

To try to rid me of the worry and to purge you out of wonder for the future and

the hurt

I wrote a poem:

I’m increasingly aware I’ve been painting things in gray

I’m increasingly alarmed by the pain

I’m increasingly alive to every cloud up in the sky

I’m increasingly afraid it’s going to rain

See, lately I’ve hated me for over-playing pain

For always pointing fingers out at everyone

But who in fact is guilty and for picking at my scabs

Like they could never break but they can

And they will and I’ll spill like a leak in the basement

A drunk in the night choir

Just slur all those words to make deadbeat that sweet old refrain

Self-inflicting my pain and therein lies the real shame:

I heard when they were picking through the rubble

Finding limbs, they sang hymns, but now what of what I sing?

The worry, the wonder, the shortness of days

The replacement for purpose

The things swept away by

The worry, the wonder, my slightness of frame

The replacements for feeling

The casual lay.

And

The worst of the wildlife wears clothes and can pray and

The worry, the wonder, for three meals a day

Only death unimpeded, not slowing its pace

Brings that petty, old worry and wonder away