December 19, 2019

“Satiety,” and Other Poems by Brian Rihlmann

“Satiety,” and Other Poems by Brian Rihlmann
SATIETY
there used to be 
a much longer delay 
between hope 
and disappointment    

now, I pluck the fruit 
and it withers 
in my hand   

I know it’s bitter 
before my tongue does 
 
soon I’ll leave the fruit 
and nourish myself  
on emptiness   

I’ll chew the blue of the sky 
I’ll taste the black of the night 
and be filled 

**

REBORN  
 
and when the pain finally goes 
as inexplicably as it came 
we grab its arm 
to drag it back  
through the door 
like a spurned lover 
saying  “please stay... 
I didn’t mean it” 
 
we believe if we let it go 
then it has no more meaning 
than a passing cloud 
a brief summer storm 
a dead leaf 
blowing down the street 
in the wake of a truck  
 
it must mean something 
more than that 
we think— 
 
we think so 
and thus it is reborn 
to scream at us 
through all our days 
and nights  
**
QUIT WEARING OTHER PEOPLE’S GLASSES! 
 
she read a poem I’d written  
and asked “How?” 
at one time  
I might’ve faked an answer 
but now 
I can only say 
that after staring 
for some 40 odd years 
through the peculiarities  
of this lens 
its bulges and divots 
my eyes have finally adjusted  
to how the light is bent 
yet for so long 
I thought I’d been given 
the wrong prescription 

***

Satiety

Brian Rihlmann was born in New Jersey and currently resides in Reno, Nevada. He writes free verse poetry, much of it confessional. Folk poetry, for folks. He has been published in The Blue Nib, The American Journal of Poetry, Cajun Mutt Press, The Rye Whiskey Review, Alien Buddha Zine and others. This is his first feature on the Fictional Café.

#fruit#poetry#reborn#vision
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