bruised apples

those who exist in the fantasies of love

there are some men

                bruised apple men

dispensable, discarded, overlooked

who purchase a woman’s time

                their goods become

                anticipation and revelry

swiss-cheese variety of affection

unrequited fantasies

 

weathered by the storm of socialization

debris of desires from the hurricane of his history

he is the product of every wedding he has ever witnessed

                every coy glance

                                school dance

           second chance

he is the product of every movie kiss

every crumpled and abandoned lunchbox love note

                penned with a lovers adoration and placed with intention

                                to love and to cherish til death do us part

                now sits atop cigarette filters

                                bread crust

           mucus from pairs of blackened ungrateful lungs

 

unrequited fantasies of

picnics and sundresses and wallpaper shopping

the way she leaves her toothbrush in the shower

grocery lists and how his fingers dance when he traces her vertebrae

clogged drains

                filled with her hair that reminds him of sunrise

                                waking up to her hair or a horizon of fire is where he finds god

giving her his tightly bound secrets

is to cast away fears like his own ashes into the ocean

                his heart is no longer his own

                it belongs to the sea in her eyes

                when she whispered to him on the cusp of sleep when truth is at its ripest

i need you like i need to breathe

           as she lay on his chest with the sound of his quickening heartbeat in her ear

                           like the sound of the sea in a shell

                he is faced with his own impermanence

                                tormented by certainty

           they will both become food for fish or flora

                           the consumers ignorant to how he looked at her when she danced

 

some bruised apple men

purchase the swiss cheese variety of these unrequited fantasies

                          

                          

 

Reviews

[Carolynn]

This is a very deep and moving poem. Makes me think of how relationships go through the excitement of promise at first then become humdrum and lose their spark (or they forget to remember that spark) I'm sure this could be taken many ways so well done - makes you think! :)

[geauxanne]

Thank you so much for your interesting and astute interpretation!

[WitheredWhite]

I love the way you lay this out... Gave me some ideas. ;) well done.