Besides

My Poetry B-sides

Friday, January 12, 2024

Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me

with credit to Irving Berlin for the title

 

You were my best friend

and partner

for 16 years,

and spouse for 13.

Twelve years into

our marriage,

you found a new best friend

online

and proceeded to

give your heart

to this friend.

You informed me that,

if we didn't get

couples therapy immediately,

the marriage was over.

I reached out to a friend

who reached out to a therapist

who recommended a therapist,

whom I promptly contacted

and scheduled an appointment.

After three sessions,

you announced that 

you were no longer interested in

couples therapy and needed to

focus on yourself.

Three months later -- after I

mentioned that it felt like your

heart was elsewhere --

you informed me

that you had given all you could

to the marriage and that you considered

it to be over.

I not only lost my best friend and partner

of 16 years, I lost my spouse, as well.

Meanwhile, you replaced me

with your new best friend and

moved across the country to

start a life with this new best friend --

in a state and climate that you hate --

abandoning me, our family and our

16-year history.

Labels: , ,

Monday, December 11, 2023

A Love-Hate Relationship

I crave you

because you were my

best friend and partner

for 16 years.

I loathe you

because you

abandoned and rejected me

and destroyed our family.

Labels: , ,

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Ex

Ex

Excise

Exorcism

Labels: ,

Saturday, December 09, 2023

Taciturn Lackey

When we met,

I was unfamiliar with

the words "taciturn" and "lackey."

But you introduced 

them to me

in our early days of love,

when things were new and exciting.

Who would have known that,

16 years later,

you would literally become

a "taciturn lackey" 

for your new best friend

who ended our marriage

when you left me

to start a life

serving as her silent servant.

Labels: , ,

Friday, December 08, 2023

A Deep, Abiding Sadness

Realizing and registering

the fact that your spouse has

rejected and abandoned you

results in a deep, abiding sadness.

Accepting the fact

must surely result

in a wound that never quite heals.

Labels: , ,

Thursday, December 07, 2023

Not Without You

I don't want to be in this town

without you.

But I don't want to be anywhere else

without you, either.

Labels: , ,

Wednesday, December 06, 2023

(I feel the effects of the divorce)

I feel the effects of the divorce

in every cell

of my being.

Labels: