Nearly

by Robert Sucher

 

Youth with its snap shots

Of fugitive intimacy

Its pornography of longing

And misapprehension

 

Didn’t we sleep under bridges

 

Didn’t we betray one another

Like starving mercenaries

 

The bowl was often empty

Or nearly so

 

We each practiced posing

As the most deserving of

The remaining scraps

 

We had that luxury then.

 

The bowl is still nearly empty.

 

Robert Sucher is a retired public school teacher, and former teachers’ union activist, living in Los Angeles. The proud father of a newly minted college graduate, Robert divides his time between writing, playing music, and showing up as a white racial justice ally and peace activist. His professional life began in the theater. He studied mime in Paris with Marcel Marceau and Etienne Decroux in the early seventies. He has been posting his poetry on Facebook in recent months. Robert’s father recited poetry to him from the day he was born. Poetry is where the soul reveals its secrets to itself.

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