poem

 Editing

I’m a character in someone else’s dream

Who wakes up before finding out what happens.

I’m the icing on the unbaked cake

Of somebody’s forgotten birthday. 

A candle, at a romantic dinner, where 

Only one person shows up.

I’m ice skates collecting dust in the garage

Waiting for the pond to freeze in August.

Bandages stashed in the first aid kit

For a wound that healed on its own.

Am I being clear or are these just words

Of a language that hasn’t been invented?

Are you the translator of the old scroll

Someone found buried with an ancient civilization

Modeled after the town I grew up in?

I say it shouldn’t have been written.

You say bollocks!. Go fuck yourself!

You’ve just been too afraid to listen!

I’m afraid I’m the show you’ve already watched 

When there’s nothing else to do.

The prayer you've been saving

For when it's too late to be forgiven.

I’m the lines you had to edit out

To make it your best poem.

6/1/25