By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 24 November 2000

Poem Penned by an Exhausted Peon

I'm not pacing my cell on Death Row
and I'm not a black panther imprisoned in a
mediocre zoo
and I'm sure as fuck not a thundercloud bruised
eroded fragment of a woman weeping in the dark
in a one bedroom apartment hoping the neighbors
will call the cops when they hear the loud noises

but I empathize
because I am exhausted
and the pensive picture you love
spoke more than a thousand words
alas
alas
they were all Japanese or worse yet
Celtic
buried but not deeply
words to be mined by anyone interested enough
to try

the blind dates were useless
old friends were sharks
circling my remains
how pretty her blood
and so sweet to swallow
it was shallow
my life
before you tripped over it

and now you're in it
into me
me in all my varieties
exhausted me
pensive me
poor me
sorry me
sincere me
cynical me
me me me
you love
you love me
and your arms hold me when all the rest of the world
has bowed out
the show gets rained out
and you don't cry over stale
popcorn

we have not slept apart
all these nights
and despite my cold words
and steely eyes
know that I
am glad
I've been through it
and I'm so very tired sometimes
my darling
but when you hold me and kiss
my neck
and love me in the silence
know
that I
am glad
and I hope you'll never
let go.
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