News For You

 

I’ve got news for you

just because you want someone doesn’t mean it will work.

Just because they are romantic beyond belief

more romantic than you ever dreamed possible

here’s the news—

it might not mean a thing.

 

After a first date full of promise, full of joy

he seeds the ground with phone calls and

writes you poems while you are sleeping and

texts them daily to your phone

straight from his heart

ardent, passionate, full of longing.

 

I’ve got news for you

once you say to this someone

I’ve seen you twice— this is crazy!

I want regular dates

he retreats into to his head,

to his circling thoughts

to his extreme fear that

he won’t live up to the promise of those poems

that he can’t

that he will screw it up completely.

This he knows without even trying.

 

I want to hold your hand,

to share that news with you gently.

Still—in my heart I feel that

if you had read closely enough

if you finished the last inch of print on the very last page

you might have sensed something

as your thumbs smudged the columns of letters

you might have felt regret

as you washed the ink from your fingers

you might have wondered why

the smears lingered why

it was such a challenge to scrub them off.

 

You rarely read the news

he reads it every day.

Perhaps now is a good time to start.