Bitter Pleasures
Black coffee, thick as night, dark
chocolate tasting of stardust and cinnamon,
and single malt Scotch. Evoking the touch
of a loved someone long dead.
Gazing at the stark sentence slashed
between sea and sky, air and water.
The silent space where an angry man
used to sit, sharpening his wits
against you. Spring rain mixed
with sudden snow. Fecund flowerbeds
rotting under last fall’s leaves, waiting
for peonies. Sore muscles under probing fingers
and the electric explosion, mind blowing,
of a gnarly knot.
Losing semi-friends and friendly enemies,
burning old notes and letters,
rolling broken furniture to the curb, poisoning
weeds, deleting every one of your emails,
coming all at once to the end of your life
as you’ve known it.
