the poet wife

…for you have been
a poet wife
and slept beside a shadow. For you have clutched
the poet’s claw stained by ink
and cheap tobacco
for you have kept the poet’s hearth in a mansion
in the ghetto, for you have heard
the poet’s wail
its piecing, keening echo.

for you have been
a poet wife
and kissed lips where form lies’ cancers. You have sat
in the poet’s rooms where lust
stalks you like a panther
Why, you have played the poet’s whore in the
service of a gangster and you have played
the poet’s whip to his
cadaverous midnight ramble.

for you have been
a poet wife
and fed yourself with forage. While you have bared
the poet’s mark, a tattoo
scratched in prison shoe polish
for you have been the poet’s faith betrayed and
too little acknowledged, you have dealt and borne
the poet’s pain
that vital, silent bondage.

for you have been
a poet wife and tried
to steer the purblind. Yes, you have been the poet’s path,
his light on the
Georgia shoreline
for you have been the poet’s truth, the pure breath
in the bloodline. And you have been
the poet’s letter
from home, sent during wartime.

06 Apr This entry was published on 04/06/2013 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.