Monday, April 27, 2020

day ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED and NINETY SIX


my long memory practices
toxic masculinity and social distancing

i hoard
betrayals and
transgressions
like items needed
in a pandemic

slights
and caustic comments
i store them away
for later use

i have a long memory, motherfucker

and a short fuse

so the other night
when you called my wife
a cunt
outside our bedroom window

because she asked you nicely
to keep your voice down
or move it down the street

and you acted like
the king of the macho world

shouting and preening and prancing
…until i showed up

i got that kept right here
little misogynistic man

close to me

for that time
when this is all over

and you and i
meet

in the hallway
in the laundry room
on the sidewalk
in the street

when you don’t know
what’s coming

when you’ve moved on
to verbally assaulting another woman

when you’ve forgotten who i am

and i come down
on you hard

like you said it to her

only
yesterday.

--John Grochalski

                                 

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