I sat in windows
doorways, closets
prostrate upon the
bed, or walking for
hours, naming the flow
ers I could. When misery
came and went in 1995, mira
culously love took his place. Against
my better judgment, I, occasionally, in
vited misery back in. He’d look at me brilliantly like
one staring at the sun and recline on his golden door.
He’d leave inevitably for another, another more
but things were evident. I liked how he’d watch
me pile wood on the floor.
Copyright © 2023 by Jos Charles. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on October 11, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.