IN PRAISE OF IMPERFECT LOVE
Courtesans of tenth century Japan knew
the keening of the caged copper pheasant,
solo double-note aria for a missing mate,
could be silenced with a mirror
The ideal of a love that completes
masks a yearning for homeostasis,
a second umbilical, island fever,
harmony tighter than unison —
dull as a solved equation;
like the ex-lover who said,
"Being with you is like being alone."
He meant it as a compliment.
— Jessica Goodfellow
from A Pilgrim's Guide to Chaos in the Heartland.
© Concrete Wolf Chapbook Series
You are like nobody
since I love you.
~ Pablo Neruda
Love/Life Poems
