Even Because
by Ralph Angel
Because it all just breaks apart, and the pieces scatter and
rearrange without much fanfare or notice.
Because you can’t and don’t remember the step that kicked up
dust and left this planet—you’d give up even more now.
Because the body itself—the heart’s
not dead but deeper, wrapped up in curtains, a different color,
among the railings and the pigeons, the rooftops and
walls—
for all you know it’s a question of bread
or beer.
Because even love
returns. The city’s all brightness
and shadow, deckle-edged, bluer than air—there’s no help
anywhere—you no longer know how to listen.
And love says, love—midnight to midnight,
already ablaze. And the boulevard—wide-open. And the well-
stocked crowdless market, and a lone taxi blears.
Even happiness—the way anger’s come back to roost again.
And joy, though joy’s not in the ear or the eye. On this
walk.
The gulls hover offshore and the islands are speckled with fire.
Even love, even because.
—————
The End
And that’s the End of the Poem
© Poetry Monster, 2021.
Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry.
Poetry Monster — the multilingual library of poetic works. Here you’ll find original poems, poetry translations, ancient verses, ballads and even folk tales.
Poetry Monster (or even The Poetry Monster) — is also an international multilingual community of poets and poetry connoisseurs. Join us:
Some external links: The Bat’s Poetry Cave. — Fledermaus’s poetry site. Talking Writing Monster. — the irreverent and irrelevant chatter on subjects both serious and not quite. A free for all board. You can scribble anything on it without registration (but it doesn’t let spammers in). You can even post your poems. Qwant.com. — a search engine from France. It’s an alternative because there are a few alternatives, like Bing, Duckduckgo, and Ecosia. And there is Yandex, the ultimate language-oriented search engine for the Russophone world. Commercial Links: Russian Commerce – the foreign trade assistance agency Other links: Poems and poetry in Russian (if you are reading this in English, as you obviously are, then you’d have to switch the language, the language switch is on the menu. More on languages)