One experience nearly everybody has had in our digital age is that of being ‘ghosted’.

*****

Recorded Reading (2:08): https://www.dropbox.com/s/31icvopyn9aqki0/Winging%20Away.mp3?dl=0

*****

Winging Away

I don’t know why, I don’t know why
I haven’t heard from you
Our pleasant correspondence
Pleasantly renew

It’s possible my recent emails
To you went astray
Ending in somebody else’s
Overfull inbox today

Perhaps in your life there has come
Some unforeseen misery —
If such were true, and I were you
I wouldn’t, either, think of me

Perhaps I was too eager
Perhaps I was too shy
Probably, I will not ever
Know the reason why

Maybe I said something
With which you don’t agree
Or gave you some impression
Which made you lose respect for me

I might have made a dumb mistake
In subtraction or addition
Or you might think I might think
We’re in some sort of competition

Rather than a state mutual
Celebration in —
Maybe you imagine
Instead I’m out to “win”

Or maybe have decided
That you need to “win” yourself —
There are so many reasons
You might put me on the shelf!

It might be, as too often is,
Uncompromising honesty
Has found itself uncomfortable
In your friends or family

Who snatch you backward, now,
Their sweetly pois’nous bosoms to
Reminding of the limitations
They have you committed to

Perhaps you lack the courage
To renegotiate,
And look on acquiescence
As kismet or as fate

— And maybe ‘twould be wisdom to
Do exactly as you do:
For see what authenticity
Hath brought this poet to!

I feel about as sad, forlorn
And generally broken
As a puppy who’s been judged
As insufficiently housebroken

But whatever the reason
I’ve not heard from you today,
Know that naught but blessings
Wing themselves your way

*****

Until removal of the stalker/targeter/vandal/arsonist following her allows her to approach any landlord ~ even for a private parking space ~ and to begin once again to create professional connections and to rebuild her life, this poet presently lives homeless and at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

Arts patrons may visit http://www.UgiftABLE.com , using code #72D-31S, or choose to send a personal check to the poet’s ABLE account. It takes about two weeks for the poet to be notified of your patronage.

Thank you for supporting quality in the fine arts.