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i am a better spinster

by Lauren Singer

i am the roving cynic,
clinging desperate to your
thick ankles, silently begging
face down into the bedsheets
that you won't leave me.

so desperate is my ache for you,
that even when you leave for mundane things,
a visit to the bathroom or to get a drink of water,
i am wringing my hands, pressing fingers into my soft stomach
wondering who you might meet on the way
and if you'll be engaged by them.

i don't want to feel this way.
i imagine a courage that
runs away from you because
this mad urgency
might as well be your open palm
pressing my head into raging waters.

i drop you off, after two days together
and even driving from your driveway
back to route 91, i cannot keep myself from
breaking something awful.
i think,
the scenic area is just a mile up
and if i threw this car over the edge,
i could stop being this lunatic,
preemptively jealous of every person who hasn't
even met you yet,
and still i know they're falling in love with you
somewhere else.



09/09/2009

Posted on 09/09/2009
Copyright © 2024 Lauren Singer

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Glenn Currier on 09/11/09 at 03:36 PM

This is so honest in its angst and poignant in its painful yearning. The rhythm and word choice pulled me in and somehow made me feel a partner in the journey. Brilliant!

Posted by Maria Terezia Ferencz on 09/15/09 at 07:54 AM

Love the first stanza, I know this girl!

Posted by Meghan Helmich on 09/15/09 at 09:33 PM

this mad urgency
might as well be your open palm
pressing my head into raging waters.
Yes. Yes. Yes! And boy can I relate to the preemptive jealousy.

Posted by Tony Whitaker on 09/17/09 at 03:23 PM

loved this as it takes me back to a time...so I had to see who you are.Yep, saw your picture. You are young and so hedonism doesn't wear well on you. Don't regret a thing if this was a reflection on something you have actually done. If not, good work anyway. If so, then just wait a few years and feel when the real tear drops fall. Again, thanks for the memory you brought back

Posted by Michael Smith on 01/10/10 at 07:29 PM

Congrats on POTD, Lauren! :)

Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 01/11/10 at 04:15 AM

Congrats on POTD!

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