Sometimes I pretend I’m Death's groom
I find my father’s sperm still inside
I find it nestled in my mother’s egg
I find the original template
I find dead things like DNA replicating
Sometimes I feel dead inside
I become fallen leaves in November
Their double-helix uncoupling
I become my bamboo chair sunbathing
I even become the lifeless moon
Death be patient, stay the desire
Trees need leaves alive or dead
Dead DNA bears many children
Wait, loved ones need me alive
What’s one more day of suffering?
Death are you more alive than dead?
Perhaps molecules have feelings
Perhaps a chair waits patiently
Perhaps trees mourn each fallen leaf
Death, you claim the universe
When Death knocks disguised
May I have the strength
Pour tea instead of spirits
Offer snacks instead of a smoke
I see through all your masks
Death don’t covet me
I’ll play possum with you
You’ll be a cancer in my genes
I don’t know how to be among the living
I close my eyes and tune out
I pretend I am your groom
Betrothed since I was a sperm and egg
The moon and leaves line the aisles
The chapel of bones and nails wait
And I leave you at the altar
Categories:
uncoupling, death, depression, life, moon,
Form: Free verse
Requiem for Henry and Sylvia
The papers arrived today. I gaze out the window of our posh villa and witness yet another spectacular Tuscan sunset. To my delight, a red-billed leiothrix is flitting about the umbrella tree, as if searching for its lost mate. I rise, slip on my Bottega Venetas and pour myself another cup of Danesi Italian coffee.
Memories flood my brain without my consent. There were happy times spent at the beach, endlessly searching for the prettiest or most unique seashells. Were they really good times? Maybe. It's all a blur now.
The large envelope lay on the expertly crafted Bocote table her artisan father made for us as a wedding gift. Rusty, our faithful corgi, rests at my feet. But he's not asleep. He's glaring at me with eyes of disdain, as if it was my fault she left.
I ask Alexa to play Handel's Messiah, then slowly open the drawer to finish the task at hand. There is just one problem. Where did I put that damn Montblanc Royal pen?
musing on what was
under a Tuscan sunset
coffee tastes bitter
Categories:
uncoupling, divorce, memory,
Form: Haibun
The day I left
A true surprise
As you sat in a tub
soap suds in your eyes
I've called your mom and dad
And am going there to stay
until my mom arrives
whose currently on her way
You couldn't ,wouldn't ,believe
As you squinted through
Eyes you tried to aleve
You said ,"you know
There's no coming back,
If you decide to
Choose this track"
What burst from me
A laugh of glee
Though neither could believe it
I was finally free
After years and years
Of fighting this fight
I quietly threw in
the towel that night
While you had come to think
no level
Could you sink
that would ever have me feeling this numb
No anger,or fear
Nor holding as dear
to a place of peace
I'd succumbed
with a voice Paced and low
and devoid of dread
I looked you In the squint
And purposely said.......
Why would I ever do that ?
Categories:
uncoupling, abuse, betrayal, peace,
Form: Rhyme
Everyone hates me eventually,
so why don’t you do it now
Saving us time, uncoupling the rhyme
—your anger my presence endows
(Martin’s Dam: January, 2021)
Categories:
uncoupling, anger, fate,
Form: Rhyme
don't let our coupling bodies
be the uncoupling of souls
don't let what's tried and true
then attempt to fan the coals
perfunctory caresses
meant to bring desired gain
when not infused with love
will only serve up pain
don't kiss with bated fervor
just to tick it off the list
then whisper well known phrases
as you search for what you've missed
Don't love my naked body
and ignore my naked mind
for my body only yields
when our souls are intertwined
Don't let our merging bodies
make spectators of our souls
if passion will not bind
soul and body, we're not whole
So love my inner woman
seek to find her hidden need
when you've brought her soul to life
on love's pleasures you can feed
Our spirits and our bodies
both were made to intertwine
for you know that I am yours
just as surely you are mine
Eileen Manassian
Categories:
uncoupling, how i feel, love,
Form: Rhyme
Where the chug of boiling water pumps
and spills its acids, oxides,
to dye the ice-slabbed hillside orange-red
desert colors, we loll naked in a pool
lulled half-asleep; first drugged in a broth
of minerals shot from the earth´s core,
then dragged down to a nether place
where the chill of air is salt, sunwarmth, sugar,
until what is known is only what is sensed:
far down below there´s no stations
of the seasons, no days passing, only this
thrashing deeper, coupling, uncoupling
in unsunned wetness where all beginnings are.
Categories:
uncoupling, art, life, drug,
Form: Classicism