I can't cage you as the brutality piles up there is no way out
the oh of agony
no doubt
gets more wicked every day
in a curious way
contending with odd amours
on this the day after
today there's nothing but this
as we argue what is true and what is not
the heartache only gets worse
let yes and no battle all the cruel innuendos and let the goodbyes calculate the defiance of the morning I'm reduced to the parts of the unknown and I'm discounting the sobbing imprisoned in this friendship squandered at the end of a long conversation a dreadful heaven is certain insecurity has revealed the talk wrestling with the irrational in this shifting scenery
all the blanks are filled in as we're running around in a hall of lamentable mirrors
About the Author
David M. Alper's forthcoming poetry collection is Hush. His work appears in Invisible City, Quibble, Scapegoat Review, and elsewhere. He is an educator in New York City.