I want to read all your writing, especially
your suicide note.
I want to throw you into the sun
but you’re too heavy, gravity loves you.
Still, you captivate me. I want
to touch you, grip and rip.
You sleep down by the cool breath of the river.
I sleep in a soft bed. Who’s got it better?
I pass judgment on you but this stance is rote.
All the cool kids want you because you are cool.
I write and write all these words, useless black stitches.
Do you even care? Does anybody? I gaze into your black open eye.
All believers worth their salt must have you.
All those brave flags, stars and stripes waving in a blue sky.
Michael Henry is co-founder and Executive Director of Lighthouse Writers Workshop, one of the largest literary arts centers in the country. His poetry and nonfiction have appeared in places such as The Writer, 5280 Magazine, Georgetown Review, Threepenny Review, and Copper Nickel, and he’s published two books of poetry, No Stranger Than My Own and Active Gods.
