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put it in a box
by Lauren Singeryou are coming
to pick up the leftovers
that have been spilling out the sides
of this tired union for some time now.
this is not about me thinking
i can save this, anymore.
but what of the boxes we fill
to brims with the belongings of our
past lovers? the mugs we sipped that reminded
us of how they brewed their coffee or the pens they
used that have bled out their ink and still sit on our counter tops?
do we wipe around them? do we step over them?
and when they leave you vague messages
asking to collect their old belongings
do we hug them in the doorway or do we
shake their hand or turn our backs completely so
they cannot see that we are hurting?
or do we leave them in the hallway and make sure we're not home
when they stop by?
and what if they sit down and want to stay?
what if they want a drink?
do we beat the dead horse and try to ride it?
or do we euthanize?
how do we make this
painless?
if you start school again
and i move to seattle maybe
we can burn all the pictures and
scar the imprints off our skins until
things like cream cheese, thrash metal, dinosaurs,
handcuffs, black velvet whiskey, paintbrushes,
spock, erlenmeyer flasks, and every word
out of every stranger's fucking mouth
stops reminding me of you.
01/13/2010 Posted on 01/13/2010
Copyright © 2024 Lauren Singer
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Nanette Bellman on 01/14/10 at 05:24 AM The truth is brutal sometimes and I loved how you seemed to put on a leash, all the feelings that we'd like to let runaway. |
| Posted by Michael Smith on 01/14/10 at 06:03 AM I love it. More of that "new" Lauren Singer I've been talking about (disclaimer: I am out of the loop).
Very poignant, very valid, very insightful, and very wise. I would hope that you'd do the reader the service of sharing the answers to all your questions when you find them. No, I'm not convinced that mere mortals can make the process painless, but, they sure can put it into perspective and that can create miracles. Now we just have to find or, more likely, believe in a perspective which will make all these mountains mere mole-hills.
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| Posted by Michael Smith on 01/14/10 at 06:05 AM I also failed to mention that I like how you've so astutely suggested what putting all this stuff in a box can do for us.
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| Posted by Ava Blu on 01/15/10 at 08:19 PM love. that is all. |
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