Determination

I didn’t write this poem to your overshirts & oversized tennis shoes, Glinting masculine pride & promise.

I didn’t write this poem to admire your curved cheekbones, Underlining eyes crowded with time, loss, & sleeplessness.

I didn’t write this poem to cause you to call me And tell me in your DeNiro voice you want my company.

I didn’t write this poem to cause you to text me Sweet half-threats of tender licentiousness.

I didn’t write this poem to ease your heartache, Longing for another woman, Yet another who got away.

I didn’t even write this as an ode to the most brazen creature I know, a slight female with the Scariest demeanor in three countries, A keen eye out for every menace, Including myself, Paranoid-prepared for my defection, At the ready to deconstruct, annihilate, all.

I didn’t write this poem to show how Prone to lighting those matches I am, too. I wrote this poem for me to recall I can appreciate What is tremendous in this world. I wrote this poem about you to save my own life.