Spring Training

Posted byJennifer PatinoPosted inpoetryTags:, , , , , , , , , ,



Spring Training

You fell in love with someone
less wordy while I burned
old diaries
& thought of the feel of your hair
as the pages curled.

I plucked out your eyelashes
to make a paintbrush with
& colored outside
the lines of our beautiful home.

I listened to recordings of your
voice on splintered cassette tapes
just to trigger a decent dream.

I replayed your forbidden
declarations to chase
the spectre away from my doorway.


He looked so much like you
that I forgot to be afraid.

I’ll rename your sun & curse it
like summertime. Triple temperature
terrorist, take your trembling lip
to your new goddess. Tell her I
said hello.

I’ll feel your palm sting my face
when baseball season starts.
Remember straddling you
in third baseline seats after
a foul ball nearly killed me.
A fifth of whiskey hidden
in your sock. A floodlight
gleam in my naive eye.

You captured my bruises
& I feel sick when I think
of how I begged for them back
on your front door stoop.
How I busted my heel
on your back porch
scratching at your lock
at 4 AM.

You said I could have tasted
a bullet, but all I swallowed were my tears.

I’m still scraping myself
from the wheels of the bus
you threw me under.
I’ve resigned as your mistress
& I demand no recompense.

I’ll answer any question
asked about you now,
but only under extreme duress.

(February 17, 2022)





Published by Jennifer Patino

Poet.

33 thoughts on “Spring Training”

  6. What a beautiful and strong poem Jennifer! It’s amazing how these early loves can still make us feel such strong emotions. I really do think that they shape the way we love in the present. They really are like spectres haunting us.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

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