29 May 2014

so you could


I endured the ordeal of your mama's death
       so you could have an affair.
I held your hand through E.R. trips
       so you could say you don't care.
I moved with you so far away,
I did some work for little pay,
I helped you find a job you like
       so you could take a hike.

(dec 2013)

08 May 2014

Francis Left the Hotel Bar


Francis left the hotel bar and walked through the rain-soaked streets as though searching, though with no particular aim or goal. He could go to another bar somewhere else now, or find a quiet café in which to sulk until dawn. The bar at the hotel had been too friendly, too inviting. He wanted to be intrusive with his brooding.

And what of Annabel? he thought, which sent warmth to his face in many forms: first, the warmth of love, of romance, of comfort; then the warmth of anger, of shame, of agony. Love always won, always wins. She'd left him not long ago, but the sting of her departure loomed over him. She had taken so long to finally leave that it caused Francis no relief when she did, and no amount of his protestation would cause her to stay. She left in the way that sloths descend trees: slowly and with sharp claws.

Francis rounded a corner and the word “failure” entered his mind. He had failed and been failed. Annabel was his life's goal, his dream. He had spent more than half his life pursuing her, in one way or another, until finally they were wed, and only a couple years ago. Their second anniversary was one of painful revelation, as Annabel's indiscretions could no longer be contained. They had always leaked out slowly, in tiny droplets, but now a single finger could not keep the dam whole. The trickle became a stream became a deluge. Francis was already a scored pane of glass before the force of the month-long affair shattered him completely. The pieces scattered far and wide, and he had no means by which to pick them all up himself. Annabel had been his closest friend, the only one who could possibly help reassemble him. Now he was alone, broken, and all spread out. So he wandered from bar to bar, finding a piece here, a shard there. In this way, he could make himself whole again. Or die drinking.

(13 Dec 13)