the other press Gallery

March 26, 2003
http://otherpress.douglas.bc.ca

Poetry/Fiction/Essays/etc.

By Theresa Brodie

I never touched you

} Though tempted,
I never touched you
while you slept.

I feared that I
would break you.
Break through and

somehow tarnish you.

Instead,

I leaned

and breathed the scent
of your hair, tousled
on the white feather
pillows.

I watched the flutter-pulse
beneath your skin and
your body moved

then,

rising and falling

with slumbered breath.

And now,
I reach for you.

Your hair

too neatly combed.
Your head

too neatly lay

to rest

on unfamiliar pillows.

Frantic,

I lean to breathe
your scent

and cannot find you.

iteteaheibemnaie aa

I Am an Ass

I am an ass

when I’ve been drinking.
A clingy, flirty, tawdry
temptress

thick with booze

in thought and vision.

I despise that girl

drink in hand

building self-worth

on the lies of a man who

coincidentally
is also an ass
when he’s been drinking.

The alcohol drowns out
and leaves me shallow
and hollow

and sick

and sallow.

But at last

I finally recognized

this pattern of my
unconscious demise
before the thick of sleep

lets me forget.