16. Love Letter to Ptolemy
Darling, we’ve carried
some wonderful lives
with us into this one.
Today I’m swimming
in your prophetic
verse, star-gazing
through this ceiling,
bombarded by mathematic
theory that you explain
so well. I’m sorry I
reject the notion of
set fates, and still curse
this timeline for keeping
our bodies so far apart.
Your love aids me
in accepting what is,
for if we were to murder
each other in this day
and age, I’m afraid
we’d be stuck in this
history, never to escape
to the next incarnation.
I can’t handle this cultural
assault, so to be a spectre
here would be hell. You
once asked me where it
ended and I couldn’t answer.
Now I believe the apocalypse
of us already happened
and we’re forever clinging
to the idea that our molecules
will bump into each other again.
You seem determined to make
this happen and I leave it
up to chance and synchronicity
to decide. Statistically,
we are doomed, aren’t we?
I’ll hush now, for fear
I carry the jinx in my tongue.
I’ll wait for the next rebirth
and remember the jolt
of your touch every night.
I’ll loop the last time
we kissed behind my eyelids
until it transcends dream.
I’ll whisper to the trees
that you are mine in some
reality. As I am yours,
always, for eternity,
in some far off place
that existed once
if only in our minds.
Photo by Maarten Verstraete on Unsplash
Thistle Thoughts 
Excellent poem Jennifer! From start to finish, absolutely first rate!
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Thank you, Dominic. This one seemed to flow very easily & I really like it.
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My pleasure Jennifer! Yes, this poem flows really well!
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Your work is always good, but this one, I like quite a lot. The speaker’s voice makes me think of Hypatia.
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I will have to look that up. This was one of the times where I really have no idea who the narrator is. When poems flow out like this one did I wonder if I even wrote it or if I just let another voice take over. Thank you for reading.
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My pleasure.
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I’m still reading, but wow. This answers a lot of questions, thank you 🙂
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Of course, a bit of s.s.p.: https://spergbox.wordpress.com/2023/03/12/hypatia-day/ no pressure.
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My name means “Son of Ptolemy”.
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That’s so cool!
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Wonderful poem, Jennifer! I was wondering throughout who the speaker was. It really did feel as if you were channeling an ancient voice, but enlivening it with your own spirit.
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Thank you! I’ll always be attached to this one due to the experience of writing it.
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Great poem Jennifer!
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Thank you!
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