Ink Pen Drawn
for Jackson & Pam & D.B.A.

1.
people who smoke marijuana
are not in their right minds
they’re in their left minds
in what’s left of their minds
they’re in the wrong frame
in the wrong state of mind

2.
always in a hurry when she comes by
time enough only to squeeze out
what she needs- wants- has to squeeze out
and out she pulls and off she goes

3.
thought he shied away from erotica
from getting his face and hands
and paint brushes in it

but he can draw breasts as well
and as readily as some these days
are able to draw blood

hairy Suzie of this model is as well
included here

4.
always trying to reframe us or me
our love or love
as if she knew anything at all
about framing
as if she or anyone
were able to frame
or tame a hurricane

5.
always pulling away from me
but she is always with me
never apart from me

how though can she be
as tied as we are by lines of her poetry
or my many poems of her

more poems I write of her
pull her nearer and nearer to me
or do they provide
a longer and a longer rope
for her to dangle off, stray away

we’ve begun to fight physically
or to play rough
she’s tough, you see, or tries to be

paradox of our closeness
and our distance apart
thought of which got my note book out
my ink pen drawn, caused tears to gather
me to well up and to holler also, in alto

though at once
too bitter and too sweet to bear
as much as I suffer, as uncertain as this is
some friend recently told me,
“You are lucky to be in love,”
said she envies me my situation

I am like a boat upon waves
merciful and merciless

though I might sing,
I have no say


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011
Written on Friday,
between 4:33 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.,
March 4, 2011