Falling’s not the problem
How different it feels
to wake up
in your empty bed // with
his arms around you
and realize you don’t love him anymore.
It wasn’t all at once
the flowers didn’t blossom in one day
gray winds gave way to colored life.
heartache had left you,
had packed its things
had disappeared in a moment
the way he slipped on his shoes
or the screen door hissed behind him.
But it wasn’t slow
like the change of the seasons
or how slowly you imagine the seasons to change.
wind filled your empty silhouette
put its cold hands around your throat,
before you could open your dry eyes
winter has forfeited its reign
and you realized you don’t love him anymore.
And you were as free as summer from
winter windows down the wind
welcome on a hot day
//
And how different it feels
for the same boy
who held you in his arms and
swore he loved you
to hold you again now
and realize
I don’t love you anymore.
So many interesting things going on. The bed is empty, but "his arms" around "around you." And then the litany of the progressive loss of love, embodied in images. There is a lovely ambiguity here: sadness and relief. But then the poem shifts in the last stanza, doesn't it? To first person in the last line. Should it be "He doesn't love you anymore?" Is that the sense you meant?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this formatting is doing what you want it to do? I almost see this as two poems in one; one poem on one half of the ]"//" and the other on the other half, and sharing the first two lines. On a wide enough page they would go sort of side by side maybe? Idk if this is the right interpretation, but I enjoyed reading it that way, and feel as though a different page layout might do that for you.
ReplyDeleteSorry, first, second, and fourth lines are in both poems. so maybe something like
Delete(centered ) 1
(centered) 2
(line three split left right)
(centered) 4
(rest of poem split, but vertically starting on the same line.