Address Poem – “Dear Faltering Paradise” – 12/10/2022

You hear that unfolding. Pages recreate an echo. A faint call.
That sound cannot remain wrinkled, staying old –
it isn’t a memory you can leave in a grave, when its casket
will be the only thing rotting. Upon your forehead,
petals have fallen. They writhe like those maggots you hope
are feasting upon our bittersweet tragedy.
We have screamed in one corner,
while smiling in three others. Where were you?
Where are you, while I’ve had to repaint these walls
in your blank criticism? I’ve had to chip clean
darkness into white space, to rewrite meaningless realities,
colorful illusions, of you, who has been crawling
up to no mother’s arms, no crib in sight.
Read these words, entertain these lips, and leave
knowing you have walked a thin line
where a signature retreated you
to find me as broken as you.