Whole
for D.B.A.

i.
the fact that I met
and did not make the holes, means that
someone, before I came, had entered,
had gone through your earlobes

I came along late, came along later
provided earrings for pierced ears

allowed to insert them, to put them in
with trembling hands
moment like a moment in a movie, in a film

those most perceptive among those present
filling nearly every seat in Starbucks,
Sunday past, could tell they were, with us,
locked in a most romantic moment

while I labored, struggled, to find two holes
stretching your earlobes to find them
with a poet's trembling hands

trembling as you are, I am happy
I did not have to rely upon you to pierce them

I was trembling, shaking, because overjoyed
I was spilling happiness I was unable to contain

ii.
how could I have raped her
I didn’t make the hole
it was there when I got there

I entered a passage,
a chop, a cut, kind or not,
an injury which someone else
already had inflicted

you have to blame her maker
accuse who made her

it is he or whomever
who should be under arrest
who should have been arrested

I entered the hole, I do admit,
I didn’t make it

who did is who
aught to be in hand cuffs
instead of getting away
scot-free


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2010
Written between 11:30 p.m.
on Tuesday, April 20 and
12:45 a.m. Wednesday,
April 21, 2010