23rd
12-23
A Ghost of Christmas Past Is On My Doorstep, and Like A Jehova’s Witness, Cannot Take No For An Answer (or, Please Stop Dragging Me Backward Down Memory Lane)
I wanted to tell you
all the things I never said
but words have a way
of slipping off my tongue and sliding
back down my throat.
So instead I listened to a story
about the night we first kissed
and suddely ten years evaporated
and disappeared along with my self-respect.
I can feel myself choking on the past
trying to swallow past the tears as I cry
picking up a jagged piece of your brokenness
I cut my finger on the sharpest edge
You’re asking too much of me to
step out on this ledge with you again.
It’s Winter, and That Pretty Much Sucks
The season changes,
warm orange glows give way
to hard gray—
and I along with the sun
settle behind a cloud
going down into the dark season
chasing your ghost down
dark widndswept streets
of this beggar’s town
dreaming little secret dreams
that can’t even reveal themselves to me
Jogging along, jogging memory
littered with all things you
that are now foreign to my senses
Perhaps if I put on your rose-colored glasses
I’d see more clearly today.
