Thursday, March 5, 2009

what is and what should never be

these letters on my steering wheel
just go to show
you can’t erase from every kind of paper
and things don’t simply disappear if you
simply go away from them
and these unfamiliar water stains
on my steering wheel, they just go to show
the absence left by empty spaces
but it’s never over for us
not if you jump, not if
every hair on your head turns black, not
if you burn--or try,
it just doesn’t change a thing
and poison is still poison
and there’s no antidote
and we’re all going to drown together
and we’ve all cried for you
and we’ve all cried because of you.
but we’ll always love you
and there’s nothing you can ever do
to stop it. and any one of us can say
“i’ve lost count of the times
i’ve given up on you,
but you make such a beautiful
wreck, you do.” because some things
about the past are permanent marks,
and you’re a part of us--
a fractured bone in a strange body,
but there’s no amputation, no novocaine
to change the truth,
no medicine to make it go away…
and you have to let us love you,
because it’s nothing more or less
than the very most
and least we all can do--
and not one of us can ever stop
so you can only choose to let us stay,
and you can only choose

to be amazing and

to be amazed.

3 comments:

Ianthe Wilde said...

this is definitely a win.

Coweh said...

this is kind of wonderful and heartbreaking.

the unholy atlantic said...

1) title: lyrics from "criminal" by ringside. 2) i'm not used to hurting people. 3) several tears sprang to my eyes when i was reading your poem and it gave me PTSD so i would like to read it again but i can't. 4) poem time of death: 10:21 p.m.