SHOCK

by Lyn Lifshin

“It may have been the gradual loss of Millay’s beauty that finally put off her young lover and she would never get over the shock of it, the horror and the disappointment.”

*Daniel Mark Epstein WHAT LIPS THESE LIPS HAVE KISSED
page 242

When I did the Internet
search and found the
year you graduated
from college. When
I tried to remember
your face after the
reading at Luna Rosa,
chili peppers in the
hot November wind.
When I could just
think of your smile.
When I didn’t, could
not remember how tall
you were. When you
wrote “might go to
Europe and just fuck:
which didn’t fit with
the you giving insulin
shots to a stray cat.
When I wasn’t sure
what I wanted from you
till too late. When I
was relieved in 2 years
your hair was snow.
What else to go with
Winter. When it seemed
so close, people in cars
beeping but we only
could hear each other.
When I didn’t leave my
leather jacket in your
closet before the slam,
already close to mid
night. When i knew some
thing that was started
was over, gone, except
for this poem


*Lyn's website: http://www.lynlifshin.com/books.htm