Knock knock. Who’s there?
Banana. Banana who?
Banana me. Banana you?
What? Who?
It’s me, your wife.
Why didn’t you say so, I wasn’t wearing my hearing aid.
Are you wearing it now?
No thanks, I’ll go later.
Uncomfortable silence, as usual.
There will be a day when you can’t sing.
There will be a day when you can’t dance.
You have your whole future ahead of you.
Do it while you can.
Don’t wait until it’s too late.
The cliches landed on her head with
No effect. She had made up her mind.
It was him or nothing.
True love would prevail and nourish them.
If times got tough, they always had each other.
She walked through the doorway and into the
Remainder of her life. Expectations high,
Realities ambiguous. With her, the object of
Her affection and the promise that
All would be well.
A couple of friends walk down a
Leaf-strewn path, thin sunlight
Just warming their steps. A man
Walks toward them and nods
As he gets closer, they nod back.
Conversation turns to events
Gone by. Abstract time and
Moments become heavier and
More valuable as life passes.
I’m glad you’re here.
Me too.
It would be nice if, just once,
You thought of someone who
Is not you. Not that there’s anything
Wrong with the way you impose
Your damage on those who are
Required to love you, pause.
It’s clear to everyone but you
How you feel about yourself.
Don’t do a thing, everyone else
Will adjust, bend, break.
Many years spent together.
Many conversations and the
Shared, familiar laughter of
Congenial experience.
Harmonious chatter,
Joyful exchanges.
Always there for me.
Always understanding what I was
Thinking or saying. Always talking,
That’s how I returned the favor.
Now I make up stories about
How you were because I
Never asked or listened.
It’s not that funny when you’re the object of
Scorn and manipulation, subtly executed.
Stand right here for eighteen years,
I’ll show you what it’s like.
Difficult to make out any one thing let alone
Remember the specific time I failed under its
Growing weight. Slow motion immobilization.
Come now, I’ll tell you more about it.
Let us relive those glory days when,
Big as a mountain, you saw fit to
Slide into the valley silencing all
But your conscience.
She walked out of my dreams and
Into my van. I did not know her but
She said she was supposed to meet
Me there, preordained happenstance.
Stopping at a dusty convenience store
Purchasing sustenance of dubious merit.
Exchanging pleasantries and searching for
Clarity. Back on the road enjoying the
Wind blowing through our uncertainty.
What if I told you I don’t care
What you say or what you do
Or how you do it or why you think
It’s the most important thing in the world.
I bet you’d keep talking about yourself.
We sit down and
He listens to
What I have to say,
Without twitching,
Rebutting, defending,
Or interrupting,
A scenario that
Will never transpire but
That nonetheless makes
For a nice dream.
