When I Can’t Stop — Summary

When I can’t stop thinking of you I am so empty with craving I could eat all the divots at the golf course because you done me dirt. Remember the times? I waited in line for you for so many seasons yet you dismiss me like an inconvenience like a drizzle in a golf game.

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Koon Woon's speaker can't stop thinking about someone who hurt them, and the poem is about how that longing feels: hungry, hollow, and a little absurd. The speaker says they are so empty with craving that they could eat all the divots at the golf course, a funny, odd image that turns heartache into a kind of desperate appetite. Divots are the scraps of torn-up turf, so the picture is of someone willing to swallow anything, however worthless, just to fill the gap.

Underneath the humor is real hurt. "You done me dirt" is blunt and conversational, and the question "Remember the times?" sounds like a plea. The speaker waited "for so many seasons," which suggests patience and loyalty, only to be treated like "an inconvenience," a mere drizzle interrupting a golf game. The golf imagery runs through the poem, and it makes the speaker's pain feel small to the other person. The mood mixes bitterness, self-mockery, and quiet sadness.

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