Friday, August 4, 2017

This poem was recently revised, and due to formatting problems has been re-posted out of chronological order.



The Conjugation of Take
Jan 17 2010


The conjugation of take,
taken, took.

He took a lover”, let us say.
As casually as an umbrella
when rain threatened,
a penny for change.
A simple act of will, a dalliance;
women
throwing themselves
at him.

Did not fall in love
did not give himself up
to her.
And not the one true love, soul-mate, life partner,
but the indefinite article
- a conquest, a notch
to add to all the others.
And “lover”
as in making love, not in it,
seized, not given.
And “he”, of course;
because women are not nearly so free,
or weren’t
when such things were written.

And the future tense of take, will take, will have taken,
until the future circles back
broken-hearted again.

A sentence of 4 small words
parsed
until it is purged of all glamour
and gallantry.
He has become a cad,
and she, the object of desire
a brief distraction.

He took a lover,
and she was taken
advantage of.


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