Fishing
I still comb every crowd
for those pale jade eyes I love
you, walking through a door
one of the many I left open,
just in case a memory stirs
me, a taboo kiss
me, a lover drowned
in the black sea of your past.
Those dark waves could
not swallow me like you
they were seductive,
unkind but not strong enough
to wash down all that love
I still feel, still live
with the one regret we share
your fear, your shame
separates us still
I scour desolate streets
to find you, fill your heart
with blue topaz, say
I forgive you.
Notes
I wrote this a few years ago after reading too much Margaret Atwood (if such a thing is possible). Enjambment is my favourite poetic technique: it’s perfect for creating jilted rhythms and emulating feelings of uneasiness and unevenness that are at the core of this poem…and, indeed, many others I have written.