Witness A

Witness A [who I was pressed
to love – as well] met with me
long after all things fell apart
& our affections adjusted – I’ll
sleep alone [most nights] – As

a dream’s troubling act seeps
[as my day wakes] – dazed by
who-was-to – yet I – why-so?
Easy mistakes to make now a
cruel joke is not said [her lips

were thin & cracked – sipping
too much red wine by dusk] –
Regret is that palace roamed
by low fools – dragged there –
lived in – not a forever-home –

Five-letter words are our new
foursome ways of expressing
feelings & best not said aloud
or written out [lest misread &
quoted back as furious truths

by lovers of cheap verse] – In
my touch I travel an abstract
land – every keystroke is care
to evade light fist of quintets
& ruffled egos – We sleep well

in others’ beds – without a tale
yet composed to tell –  We will
lie after nights laid on [but no
way of escape] – Witness A? A
person-of-interest – still there

to remind me of how it really
was – she stripped for me in a
cheap hotel room – beautiful
in her agreements to be with
me – not kept [my one regret]