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POETRY I CONFESSIONS
Hello Is the Worst Five-Letter Word
Another tedious conversation
I never knew hello
could be aggressive,
a feign-left hook
to start that conversation
you didn’t really want
to have, anyway.
Your response
becomes crucial,
the simple click
of a pawn or the tap-
tap-slide of a knight
that sets the game
in motion, dozens
of possible outcomes
already lost to those
five unremarkable letters.
Lovely weather — too passive,
reveals your discomfort
too soon, tripping
out of the starting gate
in deep sand with no chance
of recovery. Unless
there’s a storm or hurricane,
which forces your combatant
[companion] to shift
gears, and, now unbalanced,
stumble in return.
Not many can see the beauty
in a thunderstorm, in the crashing
of waves against the shore. Fewer
seek the patter of rain drops
on their naked skin, so if you’ve found
a kindred spirit, the malevolence
may fade, making way for a tenuous
trial of amiability (for this, order
tea, NEVER coffee).
But it’s not storming,
and you’re at a loss
for the right words. Say
you like their dress,
they may flutter on
(and on and on) about
how they got it on sale
for a price you’d never
pay for a used car. Say
you like their shoes,
they may invite
you on a shopping
trip to an over-hyped
street with clothes
you don’t like at prices
that would require
a second mortgage.
