Wednesday, October 16, 2013

the absence of her

the absence of her

"This is the Book, these are the Pages, here is the Writing."
MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood


mostly it is true
that men wear their affections
their passions and longings
their carnal cravings

on their skin and in their hands
as well as their lips and tongues
because it is palpable and corporeal
like washing up on shore from a sunken ship

but just as he had learned (he thought)
to live (if it could be called “living”)
with the absence of her (like an anchor)
he found himself in tears on the couch

in the final chapters of the book
he had wanted to read with her
just to be able to talk about with her
he was reduced to sobbing uncontrollably

yes it was the book of course
but it was the book you see
in the absence of her that twisted
him inside out and left him that alone

wiping tears away from his contacts
and off the lenses of his reading glasses
his chest heaving and aching
and his skin a moon-lit desert (an empty hand)

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