Reticence -- A Love Poem

I need a brick to fill the empty face

your cunt left in my wall. The place

is falling apart. I haven’t slept in years.

I’ll fill the gap and paint the fence in crap

set house plants on it; topiary

sculpted to Ulysses. A pageant

of nic-nacs,  When

you return,

you will follow crumbs.

I’ve ripped up all my best

tee-shirts. Written dumb

haikus on em, tied

love notes like prayer flags

Hung bow-ties high and

lived among the elderberries

I’ll walk the town in house coats

wear slippers, slip bawdy notes

slip my toes in sloppy places, 

place your face in every mirror I find

I’ve broken.

Bob Putnam