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Can you tell me
if it's time to let go?
I changed my sheets today -
the ones that smelled like your cologne...
Actually, "tore them from my bed with the ferocity of Midas" may be more appropriate.
Because I couldn't stand to spend one more night pretending as if you were here -
or as if you were ever coming back.

I washed that shirt you wore
You know, my favorite one.
The same one I've slept in every night since you left
just praying to find some morsel of solace
to delay the impending insanity of sleep deprivation.
But just because I could smell you
didn't mean you were there...didn't mean you were real
and I almost started to wonder if you'd been here at all.

I didn't eat today
or the day before that, if I'm being honest.
Food has no taste, no pleasure
without you at the table, fork and knife in hand
ready to devour it - and me.

I went for a walk today
down the street to our favorite spot
and I didn't spend my time wishing you had your arm around me
or wishing you were holding my hand
or wishing that your warmth was pressed against me to help tame the goosebumps.
Or at least I tried not to.
But who am I kidding?

I met someone new today.
He smiled at me and said something forgettable..
then asked me to go to dinner with him next week
and there's nothing I'd like more than to say yes
but still...

After all this time
I know it's your face I would see staring back at me across that table
and your body I would wish for
lying next to me in bed.
 Nov 2013 Shari Forman
Anna2000
First month, first seat change. we were on opposite sides, no interaction. I relish this, i am not a
BOLD or EXTROVERTED person
some might say I am shy or introverted
now that the time has come, I am not ready to change seats,
to take the chance of sitting closer, forced interaction,
I am nervous,
but am calmed with the thought that chances are, we'll be seated even farther apart,
I was wrong.
our elbows will brush, our knees will touch, our gazes will meet.
I hear the words coming out of the teachers mouth,
but  am stunned into silence ,
my whole being shaken,
our names are called,
our seats given.
To some, this may seem silly, immature, an overreaction.
For them, this may be true, in this situation calm, collected, thinking: this is no big deal.
But with dread curdling in your stomach as you snap to,
stumbling to your seat,
this is an earthquake shaking the earth, a volcano spitting ashes,
a panic attack waiting to happen.
and it pounces.
seated, trying not to squirm, to shake, to ****;
wondering what he's thinking, trying not to stare.
he thinks you don't see,
the glances he shoots the short foot between you,
thinks your engrossed in the teacher, the clock, the pencil
any thing but him.
But your any thing but engrossed, you see every shake, gaze,
fell every brush of the hand.
Finally, this long hour is over, the mixture of excitement and torture has come to an end.
As is to be expected, on your way still in has gaze, you trip, you stumble, your face cherry red;
embarrassed, but thankful,
that he doesn't have a class with an even more abundant chance of embarrassment.
over the day,
you forget the way he gazes,
his shy way
different from the others,
the way he's taller,
in a way that makes you feel safe, flushed, happy, even if their is no chance of him being yours.
But then lunch comes,
you sit down,
ready to devour food that can only fill your stomach, not your soul as much as you wish it would, or
could;
but looking across,
you spot him, watching you,
his gaze surpassing the walls of people, as much as a shy person wouldn't like,
is it coincidence that he found the one gap with a view of me?
is he staring at me?
what to do?
with all this questing running your mind,
your appetite flee's,
and so do I,
to my safe haven within the books.
tomorrow, the nervousness has subsided, its over, your over, its done.
but then, on the way to first period,
our paths cross,
glances exchanged,
blushes made.
You know that this is not over, not done,
the time has come for class to begin.
I've tried to forget, to overcome this nervousness, but I've been defeated,
ground to a fine powder of nerves by a crush.
our knees bounce in anticipation,
our pencils tap,
our feet twitch.
time to share the book,
the dreaded closeness.
Finally it happens,
the brush of the elbows.
we both feel it,
the sparks that glow blue,
the cheeks that grow red.
we have been given a gift, a chance,
to overcome shyness,
to create something wonderful.
but to take that chance, to accept this gift means time, courage.
and every day until then,
this tension will be relieved
and i will be a nervous wreck.
We started on opposite sides,
but fate pulled us together, forced a chance.
now we sit close, still tense, still wired,
but strangely happy,
exhilarated,
alive.
to this day, he still sits in the gap :)
 Nov 2013 Shari Forman
Kai Rivers
You
You
My favorite word
playing in my ears
like my favorite song
on repeat.

You
could mean so much
to so many different people.
To me,
it means the way you laugh
at your own jokes;
The way you sleep
making soft, short breaths
and I can listen
to each and every one;
The way your skin feels
when I run my hand along
your soft and delicate body;
The way you talk
as if every word is important
even though you think it’s pointless
(But it’s not);
The way you worry
about everyone and everything;
The way you cry,
rarely,
but when you do it’s heavy
and needed
and all I want to do is hug you;
But most of all,
the way you love
and care
about everyone.

You
meaning so many things
that this poem would be
everlasting.

You
day and night
I can’t get
my mind off of you.

You,
someone who will
never* love me
the way I love you.
So now I hope
for someone to love,
someone to love me
the way I loved you
(and still do).
But oh, how I wish
how I wish
it could be you.
 Nov 2013 Shari Forman
SE Reimer
recently a writ appeared
a read between the lines
a tale i found on Huffington
or was it New York Times?
it was one of those captions, 
you know the kind, that 
just slightly raises the eyes 
gives only mild surprise.
about an Adam’s words to his Eve.

“i’m so sorry honey; 
i truly didn’t know, 
marriage isn’t for me, dear.
sorry, i just realized now
what i should have long ago.”


(pause...)

so what would you think
as you read between these lines?
what would we care
its just another one of those
shrug the shoulder moments, right?  
not his thing, apparently.
but read on I say 
because there’s far more here
to this story than meets the eye;
before you judge too harshly
put yourself in the shoes of this guy.

here the story begins to unfold
seems son had been to talk with dad
about depression, about regret
about his attitude, and
like any dad that's worth his salt
well, dad, he talked of gratitude
said, “son, marriage isn’t for you, see”
and then he went on to explain

it’s never for you, 
yeah... it's for she
it's for the children
for a family
it's for a future
it's about giving
it's about sacrifice.

so, when you throw all that in the mix
there’s really little time left
to think about you.
marriage is never about getting
it's always been about giving;
and here’s the twist,
it’s the best part of all...

in all of your giving
in all of your loving
what you’ll receive 
what you’ll get back in return
is everything you always wanted,
anyway.
so i’ve decided, yeah i can learn
i can be as smart as he
i can change like he and say,
*marriage isn’t for me... dear!
Post Script:  
although i truly do wish this idea was my own, alas, i cannot claim it.  though the story line is not mine, this poem is and is my translation of what Seth Adam Smith wrote in a blog that is going viral. see it for yourself here...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-adam-smith/marriage-isnt-for-you_b_4209837.html
seems people really are interested in relationships that last after all.
I think when I first saw you,
I swallowed you like my anti depressant pills,
and you settled into my stomach.
When I first saw you,
A thousand seconds in time wrapped themselves in silk,
And became cocoons of memories.
Turning into butterflies,
they fly around in my chest.
When I see your smile,
when I hear your laugh,
when I remember the stars in your eyes.
When I first saw you,
I wanted to breathe in all of the air of the earth.
Because you...
You took my breath away.
When I first saw you,
I wanted to live.
For the first time in my life..
I wanted to  live.
But minutes turned to seconds on our pocket watches,
and you sat on the hillside of my insides with a gun.
You sat there and shot down all my butterflies.
And now..
I don't want to live.
And I don't want to love.
I want to die.
You took love from me.
You stamped at it with your feet like cigarette ashes but I'm still burning.
You grabbed me by my throat and whispered,
"I love you."
And as you left me there dying,
with my last breath I apologized for getting blood on your coat.
Writing about whatever.

Thoughts welcomed!
every day, i sit here thinking about what im gonna do next
or whats gonna happen next

everyday i wake up knowing that im just going to end up in this bed, alone.

everyday i think to myself, what would happen if i never woke up the next morning? what would you feel?
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