~
Still Love
I was her rebellion. Ben drinks his beer.
And she was my shot at normalcy.
We lasted ten years. He sighs, sips again.
She got over rebelling and I guess
I couldn’t be normal. His smile suggests
the last is a joke or at least a funny
truth. But his story listing all the moves
and arguments, leaves out those moments
when it worked or they believed it would
and laughed or made love. It’s the end recalled
when she told their therapist, Don’t listen to him,
he’s evil. Yet she got him to a doctor when
he said I just want to dive in the ocean
and keep swimming. Wasn’t that still love?
~
Jack Powers is the author of Everybody’s Vaguely Familiar. His poems have appeared in Rattle, Poet Lore, The Cortland Review and elsewhere. He recently retired after teaching special education in Redding, Connecticut for 38 years. Visit his website: http://www.jackpowers13.com/poetry/.