Date

384 78 168
                                    

"I'd love to check out

your poems," he remarked

after she reluctantly disclosed

her occupation.


"Sorry." She fidgeted.

"I don't

show my work

to guys I date."


"Why not?" He

fumbled

with his necktie

that was beginning to look

like a snazzy silk noose.

"It's probably on the level

of T. S. Eliot,

Yeats, Mary Oliver,

all them."


She winced.

"See that's precisely why not."


"What?"


"The poet writes about what hurts

or what helps the hurt.

Poets don't write to impress,

they write to cope.

I fancy you . . .

So, on the one hand, if you like my poetry,

I'll start writing what I think you'll keep liking.

And on the other hand,

if you don't like my poetry

I'll start writing what I think

you'll start liking.

Either way I'll lose

the reason

I started writing

in the first place."


He pouted,

his lower lip touching

his nose.

"Will I ever get to experience

one of your poems?"


She shrugged. "I mean,

you're currently living one of them."

Heartpen: Poems of a Cardiac QuillWhere stories live. Discover now