Jody Zolli

I bring you my pain
Foundling florid scream
Nameless, shameless
It writhes at your feet
Toys with your laces
As it strives to shinny up
Your worn denim leg
Lapping nine-dollar loafers.

I sic it on you
Believing it rightly yours
Perhaps you can teach it
To sit, to stay, to heal
I know it hasn´t lately
Listened much to me.

I forget too easily
We no longer share
The leash that would lend you
Things so deeply mine
Now only air where
Sticky strands and barbs
Once made us one.

I call it back, it wails
Climbs into my lap
Head rests in the hollow
Of my solar plexus
Where the losses live
In the hole I clutch
Soft-armed, late at night.