new poem: right to keep

right to keep

you looked at the swinging door
over your shoulder
when my words were soft that afternoon

but everything startling
was just another sentence
i couldn't punctuate

and even though you said
i can relate
you couldn't
and i couldn't
explain to you why

i wanted some reaction
other then your sneer

on the way home
i swore i'd stop
offering syllables up on toothpicks

and that night
i bought a one-way train ticket
and took my cotton mouth
to a back city alley

i walked home a mercenary

now i sneer and say uh huh
i raise my eye brow
never my voice

now i can
relate