IV.
My lover once confessed to me,
“I am a terrible man.”
I asked him why he thought so.
“I have all these faults and weaknesses,
That I am forced to face too often.
I make my excuses,
And then feel miserable
For the rest of the day.”
That was half a lifetime ago.
Now, I wonder if
I had misheard a homonym.
Maybe he was, or should have been,
Comparing himself to
Tissue paper.
V.
For Halloween,
I think I’ll dress up as
Global climate change.
Cruella de Vil, Lady Dracula, and anybody
In a chainsaw and hockey mask
Aren’t nearly as frightening.
VI.
The ghosts laugh at me
For trying to bring them back to life,
As if I were pasting fallen leaves onto branches
Or tossing lassos at the clouds,
To drag them lil’ dogies
Back on the trail.
Ghostly laughter is neither joyous relief
Nor mocking taunt
But instead, faint echos
Of forgotten tickles
Under the chin,
Or belly squeezes.
I worry that the gears keep turning
And the stars re-align
While only legends
Punch through the diamond walls
Of time.