In Memory of Joe Cocker

Today I pass the time reading a favorite note from you, and saying our acronym over and over. It feels like hearing you call my name, from a dream, again and again. Yasbtm. Yasbtm. I lie on my back on the bed and say it. I drum the syllables on the pillow. I see your secret code of affection in the pattern on the ceiling tiles. Yasbtm. I stand at the sink, toothbrush in hand, and say it, my mouth full-- I dare not spit. l smile our secret and swallow. And when outside I stoop to write the letters in the snow: Yasbtm I say it, trying to remain as beautiful as I was when you sent Joe as a messenger the first time-- trying to be the same as when you left. And everytime I say it, I feel the excruciating pressure of knowing that I'm not the same: I'm no longer so beautiful. You left and took that part of me with you. By: Evelyn Augusto #poetsout @evelynaugusto2012