We do not mend
we break
letting time steal
resurgent pain
walking backwards
to where we ended
with promises.
Sweet words
made under
microscopes...
appearing as silly
as wireless puppets
attempting to dance.
Our ancestors taught
us nothing except
it's deadly to want
worse to covet
proof beyond
back pages of
our story.
Amnesia's blessings
brings us back
every time
we set each other free
from these broken binds anew.
.
Only our shadows
seen to be
complete
again
entwined but
embracing only
a stale worship of
collapsed lighthouses &
the shattering silence.
____________________________________________________________________
ART OF MENDING
by Rp Verlaine
Rp Verlaine lives in New York City.
He has an MFA in creative writing from City College.
He taught in New York Public Schools for many years.
His first volume of poetry- Damaged by Dames
& Drinking was published in 2017, and another – Femme Fatales
Movie Starlets & Rockers in 2018. A set of three e-books
titled Lies From The Autobiography vol 1-3 were published from
2018 to 2020. His newest book, Imagined Indecencies,
was published in February 2022. He was nominated for a
Pushcart prize in poetry in 2021 and 2022.