‘My anger’ and other poems by Matthew Borczon
By: Matthew Borczon
My anger
Is for
you not
the horse
you rode
in on
it’s for the
lightning not
the tree
it dropped
across the
road and
it’s not
for the
soldiers
who killed
and died
in the war
who still
kill and
die in
my dreams
no
my anger
is for
the men
who start
wars in
the first place
and at me
for believing
that any
good would
come from it
it’s for
the kid I
was who
enlisted without
a clue
about the
man the
war would
make out
of me
###
Graveyard shift
Another
sleepless night
and I am
on the internet
looking at
pictures of
whales who
appear to
sleep standing
up near
the surface
so they can
get air
they sleep
only an hour
or two
a night
as long
as a ship
doesn’t hit
them and
I wonder
what their
dreams are
about
as I remember
that the
origin of
the term
graveyard shift
is from
the times
when the
dead would
sometimes
wake back
up inside
the coffin
so they
would tie
a string
from their
wrist to
a bell and
if it rang
the worker
on the
graveyard shift
would have
to dig them
back up from
the ground
and I never
wonder about
his dreams
because I
have spent
ten years
on the
graveyard shift
shovel in
hand digging
soldiers and
Marines women
and children
out of
the ground
as Afghanistan
rang in
my ears.
###
I was thinking this morning
for Dana
About the
bones of
the sun
and the
blank stare
of our
kitchen clock
I am
listening to
Bob Dylan
wondering
if you
can ever
really truly
be one
too many
mornings and
a thousand
miles behind
as I
am wishing
I could
swim across
the surface
of your
coffee cup
into the
light in
your eyes
as I
reach for
your hand
across the
table it’s
weight is
heavy with
everything
you bring
to our love
it is
solid like
a mountain
shiny as
a new
hammer
warm as
a star.
###
Matthew Borczon is a nurse and Navy sailor who has written 14 books of poetry. His latest book Cancel my subscription to the resurrection is available from Alien Buddha press.
