Straight Talk

STRAIGHT TALK 

No really, the wanting never goes 

away. Not after the house or the land, 

the bigger house on more land

or the smaller house with more 

landable utility bills and a yard

you could cut ten-minutes tops. 

Not after filling your empty corners

with children or surviving twenty

years with children until they graduate

and vacate whatever size emptiness, 

their voices echoing in the corners 

you now have back to yourself. 

Not after you cut the cord

and source your food from local farmers, 

or acquire better, faster cords

and a taste for more exotic cuisine. 

Not after the more lucrative job to pay

for the children who are always wanting,

or the cut in hours to recover 

the time you are always wanting 

to spend on yourself or the children. 

No really, you’re stuck with her

like an arranged marriage 

and have been from the jump,

and like an arranged marriage 

your options are limited: 

hold your nose and wish her away,

which is a kind of wanting itself,  

or choose to get over yourself  

and behold your other half, 

exploring what you hope to be

a beautiful face behind the veil.