"It's not my fault."

Say it.

I'm walking on a wall, eight inches wide, five feet above the wall.

On one side -

A man

Sitting against the wall

Head down -

On the other side -

A woman

Knees to her chest

Arms around her knees

I lean down to the man:

"What's the matter?"

"My love - "

A tear.

"Your love?"

"We haven't talked in so long - so long."

"Why?"

His fists tightened,

Eyes darken:

"We had a fight."

"A fight? About what?"

Pause - a long one -

"I don't remember."

"Then...why do you still fight?"

Head turned to the side,

Arms crossed:

"She hasn't apologized."

So, I tilt my head to the other side

And ask:

"What's the matter?"

"My love - "

"Did you fight?"

"Yes."

A sniffle.

"What about?"

Silence.

"I can't remember."

"Why - do you fight then?"

"He hasn't apologized."

I lift my head,

Think for a moment,

Then ask them both:

"Why don't you just apologize?"

Looking away:

"It's not my fault."

"But - don't you want to make up? Why not just get it over with -"

"It's not my fault."

A tear rolling - slowly - down -

Author's Note

An idea that was originally for school for French, but I wanted to put it onto here as well.

Oh and if I didn't make it clear enough: If you love someone and you fight, who cares whose fault it is? If you love them, just say sorry.

Reviews

[A. L. Allen]

I love the message in this. If only all of us could tear down our metaphorical walls and just apologize. Great job!

[EDRC]

I like how you use the wall to symbolize the separation of the two. This has a good message and the world would be a better place if more people would listen to it.

[_]

it's cool how you portrayed the fight of a person of being on their side and the other on their own side. great poem that shows how complicated love is. :D

[Kesav Easwaran]

Love is a feeling in life that needs a lot of water-compromise to sustain...you have beautifully used the wall symbol in presenting the false ego that ruins many a love life in this write

[Writingfox]

Excellent lesson taught here. I love the point of view its from. Keep writing. Stay chill.

I like this... Dialog-oriented story progression within a prose poem. I've done something similar before, but was way shorter and rather based on a moral than a story.
I also adore how you seemed to attempt to keep a consistent minimalistic approach to the poem's overall structure. What's another cool thing is how you introduced the setting-description stanzas with the similar approach (stanza 2 & 3). It really would've been great if the same approach was brought back in the ending (describing emotion rather than setting), would've made well for a unique twist.
some constructive criticism I can give you is that some words are a bit overused or become a bit repetitive by the middle due to strict vocabulary usage and bland description I would think. Words like "you", "fight", "wall", and "head"... Use of metaphors and twist description (descriptions which aren't up front) can really help out in that sorta area. Also, in poetry, things have to be set on a beat or a rhythm. You kept things pretty close but at some points, lines felt a bit "loose" due to extra-added words that did not really need to be there. Things like writing with a meter or set syllable count can really help this...
Overall, really enjoyed this, specially for it being a poem with morals and about fighting... I Am Svetlana probably scored best on reviewing the poem for it's overall meaning I think. Anywho, giving this one a 93/100, pretty awesome ^_^ and keep up the good work yo.

[Art Sun]

can you imagine this world if apologies were the norm...it would make life and love the joy of this world...nice work

[Shy Girl]

That's true but doesn't always happen. Most of the time nobody can remember what started the fight in the first place. Sorry, sometimes, is just a word. :)

[Sarah]

very good and very true...

[Daydreamer54]

I completly agree. i hate when ppl let their ego ghget in the way of what's important.