the Timelessness of Relationships…

too dark
too happy
too strong
not weak enough

frail fingers
prioritizing a pocket book
instead of a strong vehicle
or vitamins
found in the pocket
that went through the wash last week
dried, shriveled
meaningless now
prioritized too late or not at all

he found her in East India
she was kind
and he was kind
also with vitamins in the pocket from last week’s wash
they each laughed
and believed the other had as well, no phone call yet

she moved to America
where the living is easier
they both assumed
and it was

she travelled 10,000 miles
it took her a day and a half
she had only a single suitcase
and was shorter than expected

it was 3 o’clock in the morning in India
she was terrified and sleepless
she told him she might vomit
he held her hand and they went home together
for the first time

too dark
too happy
too weak
not strong enough

machismo
bar fights and jail time
whiskey from the bottle
a tattoo on the face

arson in 2004
punk shows and heroine in ‘96
strong convictions
shaved heads
fathers they never knew,
dead in another country

mothers working multiple jobs
who didn’t have time to care
just to put food in the cupboards
never learning to learn the difference
so never possessing the will to care
one way or the other

a beating of a man
scared and lonely on the street in 2015
they dragged him into an alley
and set him up beside a dumpster
with an empty can of creamed corn in his hand

they called it an urban nativity scene
they both picked up black prostitutes
to celebrate

Chicago was a lonely place
at one time
at least that’s what the poets use to say
lonely in a crowd
lonely in a home

machismo
the introvert, uninhibited
the clown, who never wanted to be one
sugar daddies and wife swaps
black metal and worlds that were never meant to collide

with all the love and violence that has been done
through an impenetrable darkness of an undiscovered
Earth,
what can we expect in the millennia to come
when like minds can find like minds can
find like minds?

we had better figure this out
because it’s never been this easy
to not change our minds
or
not find a way
to relate to the people
we are stuck with
in a crowded
place
or perhaps, simply, at all
regardless of the isolation
we would otherwise have preferred.

the lover weeps alone
for the difficulties she faces in the world.
will she still choose to be alone
when she does not have to be?

a psychopath weeps
for the difficulties he faces
alone in the world.
will he still choose to be alone
when he does not have to be?

and
how long will the lover weep alone before they no longer wish
to be a lover?