—I THINK LOVE IS A BLACK HOLE

  

After You’ve Gone

 

This is the line that breaks you 

relentless rain trickling 

through the floorboards

a leaky roof in inverse

like hiccups shooting through

your nose that you can’t stifle

like regrets that still haunt you 

everything buoyant yet submerged

swimming in the saddest soup 

you’ve ever not spooned

the dog hiding behind a 

discarded sofa cushion

the clock treadmilling backwards

disarray as common as an 

orphan that just shows up 

at your stoop with a tattered bag

the whole house made of 

stale gingerbread stilts

laughing harder than you’ve

ever heard it 

without telling you why 

you should laugh back

and find it funny