She fell in love.
not because of the words or gifts.
she fell in love with the way he would breathe.
She fell in love with those beautiful brown eyes.
she fell in love with the way she could look into them all day and still be intrigued.
She fell in love with the way that he held her.
she fell in love with the way that his lips felt pressed against hers.
she fell in love with the way that he carried himself.
She fell in love with his passion.
She fell in love with the way he looked at her.
she fell in love with his beautiful smile.
she fell in love with his laugh.
She fell in love with the way he cared for everyone.
She fell in love with the way he made her feel.
she fell in love and prayed for forever.

The way I look at you two
Is like a sweet syrupy luster
That coats and envelops you both
Like a dream of only the most divine

My heart bursts with how I feel
For both of you
And I can't quite articulate how I feel
Out loud without breaking into tears

I know already of the missing I will do:
I will miss you both
I will miss living here
I will miss you asking me if I'm going to bed soon
When I am staying up late doing homework
I will miss car rides talking
I will miss laughing with you
I will miss being close to you
I will miss crude humor
I will miss piano lessons
I will miss home cooked dinners
I will miss sitting on your bed at three in the morning asking advice
I will miss your laugh that resonates throughout a room
I will miss his smile
I will miss his stubborn ways of tying railroad spikes to everything
To keep them in place
I will miss the "Do you need a rides?"
The "Is there anything I can do to help?"'s
I will miss the way you make me feel better
Even after the worst day of my life
I will miss the bond we share

And even though you will only be a phone call away
I will miss *us

A wise man once told me:
"All relationships have their life span"
We can't force a time period on them
They are guided only by fate's hand

Ours lived and died in its time
When I wanted it to live on forever
I wanted to conquer life with you
I wanted to face it together

Fate decided ours in its time
And I can say that I never knew
And after all of this time only I can say
That, honestly, I think of you

It's not that you consume my thoughts
I am still happy on any given day
But I see you even though it appears that I don't
And I instinctively look the other way

I can't face you directly
So, instead, I just look at my shoes
Although everyone has repeatedly said
To not care at all about you

But some part of me wonders
If you hear me thinking out loud
And if you still look onward
To see my face in a crowd

For the young who want to

Talent is what they say
you have after the novel
is published and favorably
reviewed. Beforehand what
you have is a tedious
delusion, a hobby like knitting.

Work is what you have done
after the play is produced
and the audience claps.
Before that friends keep asking
when you are planning to go
out and get a job.

Genius is what they know you
had after the third volume
of remarkable poems. Earlier
they accuse you of withdrawing,
ask why you don't have a baby,
call you a ***.

The reason people want M.F.A.'s,
take workshops with fancy names
when all you can really
learn is a few techniques,
typing instructions and some-
body else's mannerisms


is that every artist lacks
a license to hang on the wall
like your optician, your vet
proving you may be a clumsy sadist
whose fillings fall into the stew
but you're certified a dentist.

The real writer is one
who really writes. Talent
is an invention like phlogiston
after the fact of fire.
Work is its own cure. You have to
like it better than being loved.


Marge Piercy

Do you agree with me when I propose
Perhaps we did this whole love thing wrong?
Have we done what we said we never would?
Is it just me, or did we?

Did we forget certain promises we made
Pinkie swears with fingers crossed behind backs
Oaths written in blood were just red pen
And now we meet our crossroads

We turned left when the sign read right
We disregarded the map to follow our own devices
Lust swayed us to and fro in moral crises
But yet I loved you so

Fingers wrung with selfish grief, in all our disbelief
We stop and stared as if to ask what is next
But both our minds went blank
So we paused aimlessly

What is next, what is next?
Pacing, racing, pounding chest
Do we leave? I do believe
I can’t see a you without a me

We just fell through, I’ve now come to
The smelling salts have done the done
And now I see, we’re not we
And I can see you’re not the one

Now we’re here, and I do fear
I still feel what lies beneath my shell
My heart beats for you, but I say adieu
Because I still have to love myself

I just want to hold on to today
Grasp it in my hands
Savor each moment as it passes
At least while I can

I look around my house
And think I won't be here
Come a year and I'll be gone
It makes me shed a tear

I love these walls
The memories they hold
The laughs and moments they have witnessed
That lies beneath crown mold

I want to live in now
Before it slips away
Because not too far from now
I'll be remembering today