Question

For starters
Perfect answer

Rocking Chairs - Goodbye

Tell me about the time
That you snuck into the party
For the girls and they all loved you
Tell me about the time you wowed the crowds as a waiter
When you rubbed salt on your wounds
The time you discovered Madonna
Tell me anything I ask
But you respond
By asking for a poem
A certain way
A certain idea
Jumping off point
You don’t just appreciate
As I’d hoped and for which
I was thankful
But you asked for more
You give me a list
As we sit in rocking chairs
On my front porch
And practice for our old age together
When I can ask you to tell me
About times you did things
That only act as reminders
Because I was there, too
And you can still be feeding me ideas
For poems
And I’ll eat them.

Of You

I ask so many things
Of you
That I hardly have time to listen
And I find myself
After some time
Asking only as a test
To hear again 'yes'
Of you
While you blame it on your age
And blame it on your race
And blame it on your masculinity
Each of these true
But we both know the truth
That I am much better
At rubbing my eyes and blinking as a child
Tired
And wide-eyed
Is this true?
I wonder
Christmas
Fails
Beside this
While you are much better at listening
And saying yes
Because you are the only person I have met
Fully free to love
As stated in the rules
That say
Only love when you love yourself
Everyone else I know
Myself, god knows
Finds the path to self love
Inside of someone else
You've loved yourself so long
You've moved on to me
And I sit
Ever thankful
And you listen
While I am convinced
Which is more than I could ever ask
Of you

Him

It was a man
Some man
A specific sort of prick
Who started the idea
Of power
Over women
Not with them

That idea caught on
As something scary
Entirely scary
To everyone
Not just women

It was a man
That pushed his way across the room
In front of your children
Into your face
And down your throat
It was a man
In particular

And it was every man
In between those two
That has suffered
From a fear
Of this scary idea
We must all dominate you
Provide for you
Perform at our best
And conceal all tender sighs

And it is this man
In particular
Myself specifically
Who respects that scary idea
Inside himself
With fear
And occasionally stops worrying about
What it does to you
Long enough to worry about
What it does
To himself

Long enough to hate
For a moment
The man down your throat
His lazy acceptance
Of this scary thing
Inside of him
Fed to him
That told him it was okay
That told him hitting you
Was appropriate

It is this man, still
This man I am
That struggles
With understanding
That man
Too
Because the same voice that told you to stay with him
Told him to make you leave
It is a big, scary thing
That voice

You are one woman
Though
In the know
And someone who took the chance
To see that voice
Objectively
One woman
Much later
Aware
Of what
Was there
Then
Now

We are not to be forgiven
For our sins against you
We are not to be lamented
For our side of the pain
We are expected to be brilliant
And that should still remain
We are required to be open
To the power we've been given

To use it for good
To give it away
And
To notice
Yours
Too.

We cannot undo the guns at our sides
We use them to pee
But we use them to plant
Just as easily
As we use them to kill

Now you are one woman
With room for one last man
A specific sort of man

And I am just one man
Who cannot change the world
At once
But can explain it
Over and over again

And I will show you what
Your one last man can do
From a lens reserved for my eyes only
And give you a glimpse
Of what real is
Really what is

I ask only that you keep
Covering your ears
To the scary voice screaming
When that one last man
Finally
Whispers softly
Into them.