John Sweet on the Other Side of the
november 10th, the air without mercy
cold sunlight on
a saturday afternoon
as i step out from the shadow of
the house of bones
i am not a poet
but a man walking slowly around
a twelve year-old car and
hoping it will last
another winter
a man counting the days
until the mortgage is due again
and the walls choose to either
stand or fall
and there is no sign on
this faded strip of blacktop
that we are a country at war
there is no evidence that fathers
rape their daughters
in quiet suburban homes
and it's been a year since a man i knew
left work to go home and
kill himself
it's been a week since my wife
told me she hated me and
four days now since we
began holding each other again
she understands my addictions and
the waves of bitterness that
carry me from hour to hour
and she cries when she thinks
i can't hear
she prays to gods
i have spent my entire life
walking away from
we call this slowly expanding
space between us
home
© Copyright John Sweet 2006