Don’t take it personal, they said;
but I did, I took it all quite personal—the breeze and the river and the color of the fields;
the price of grapefruit and stamps,the wet hair of women in the rain—
And I cursed what hurt meand I praised what gave me joy,
the most simple-minded of possible responses.The government reminded me of my father,
with its deafness and its laws,and the weather reminded me of my mom,
with her tropical squalls.Enjoy it while you can, they said of Happiness
Think first, they said of TalkGet over it, they said
at the School of Broken Heartsbut I couldn’t and I didn’t and I don’t
believe in the clean break;I believe in the compound fracture
served with a sauce of dirty regret…
The poem continues.
(Photo: Oulunjärvi Afternoon by Arno Rafael Minkkinen via Colossal)
The Dish 
