torso

form: poem
completed: early december 2006
notes: first piece inspired by my new muse

You're making it easy,
contagious,
appealing, at that.
The tone of your voice.
The tip of your hat.
You're making it simple,
incredibly succinct.
But I don't have the choice
that others might think.
I don't have her--
whoever she is--
that other one waiting
just off in the wings.
I don't have that
that troubling past
that waits there and wonders
and draws me back.
I've started over
and with heavy steps:
I've shed off the sticky-sweet
otherness.
My life is stagnant,
my hands are tied--
the energy slows
and sleeps inside.
If you'd ask, I'd fall with you:
fast and hard
and down the shoot.
My eyes are bright,
I've nothing to lose.
I'll sit aside
and wait for you.
And if you never come to me,
I'll know that I at last am free:
because those words,
that tone, those eyes
have stamped a mark
on both our lives.