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Selfish with hugs: I wrap
Too tight, hold on
Too long – even
Pit bulls wriggle out of
These
constrictions;
Children yell, “Hey!
Let me go” and scream,
That play scream, “Run
Away: he's the monster!”;
Uncles I wrestle say
“He
has energy, good control”
(not knowing
that I don't
Want to let them go).
I loan my coat to
anyone who's cold. I
don't wash it. Not yet.
First there's to wear it:
To bear something
That's more than mine.
Worth it: driving
home
smelling like
my best
(“best”
– you know, the
one who understands
How you mean under
What you say out of
Who
you pretend
you are
– maybe
why she
lets
me take
these
from her like
blood, fast-thin life,
like I do) friend.
She fades in time
But I hold on as long
as I can to the scent of
further-than-me, because
I do come back: just-me.
& I'm done with me.
The first thing that caught my eye was the formation of this poem. I think it's supposed to be a shadow of smoke? to represent the scent of the best friend and other memories. This is kind of my interpretation of the poem: Though the time has passed and the people are not by the speaker's side, the speaker wants to hold on to those memories as much as possible. The speaker is "selfish" because he's trying to retain anything that is left of the memory and "wraps [too] tight to hold on Too long." The speaker doesn't wash his coat because washing it away would mean forgetting the wonderful memories that came with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Eleen Y.