"Misgivings" by William Matthews

"Perhaps you'll tire of me," muses
my love, although she's like a great city 
to me, or a park that finds new
ways to wear each flounce of light
and investiture of weather.
Soil doesn't tire of rain, I think,

but I know what she fears: plans warp,
planes explode, topsoil gets peeled away 
by floods.  And worse than what we can't 
control is what we could; those drab
scuttled marriages we shed so
gratefully may auger we're on our owns

for good reason. "Hi, honey," chirps Dread
when I come through the door; "you're home."
Experience is a great teacher 
of the value of experience, 
its claustrophobic prudence,
its gloomy name-the-disasters-

in-advance charisma.  Listen, 
my wary one, it's far too late
to unlove each other.  Instead let's cook
something elaborate and not
invite anyone to share it but eat it
all up very very slowly.

(This poem first appeared in Poetry. Robert Bly selected it for The Best American Poetry 1999. -- sdh)

Comments

[emma trelles]

Great poem.