you (i do not think)

you (i do not think)


i do not think

i do not think of you

i do not think of you as other people

i do not think of you as other people do

i do not think of you as other people do including you

•

maybe you

could not see

in my eyes

the you i love

who you have been

who you are

who you are becoming

who you are without me

•

i imagine you

imagining yourself

disembodied to witness

the world of me

you chose to set aside

for you without me

you see the books

i am collecting for you

as if i could matter still

a biography of Vonnegut

signed by the author

the colorful boxed paperbacks

of Murakami’s 1Q84

the book of your father’s

i was unable to return

i am a solitary librarian

i collect i catalog i preserve

with the faith of a shaman

i write poems
like birthday presents

because

i do not think of you as other people do including you