Autobiographies
Hunting
My best friend often brings up his ex-wife
and mentions her name is if vent and lament
are synonyms (rather than exact rhyme)
that go together the way course and divorce
so often merge into
one.
And though I’ve brought this to his attention,
I understand how the death of something
can live on,
casting breath
into a body bent on
breaking.
I was thinking…
If we all wrote novels solely of grief
and titled them after our biggest losses,
would they be a community of best-sellers,
or would they be relegated to dollar stores
as a reminder of the change
for the prices we paid?
The left side of my body hurts when I eat
certain foods,
so these days I select my pain
based on my pallet
and what a novel concept—
knowing yet ignoring the hurt beforehand:
turning colorblind eye to red flags,
picking the locks of closed doors,
eating that cheesecake
anyway!
There are days when cars keep cutting in front of you
one after the other,
and other days when the sailing is smooth,
but the roads will always be tied up from
onlookers who aren’t even part
of the wreck,
and social media speculates if it’s over between
the socialite and singer after
she drops his last name on her profile,
and my best friend
whispers to himself, It really was a good marriage.
It really was...
Gone are the days of being voted Most likely to catch a tiger by the toe. Always the wild cat tamer attempting to snare an appendage… never the prom queen. Though there’s something to be said for being recognized amongst the habitat of your peers as a go-getter of exotic animals. But a bridesmaid begins to develop a complex when she’s only as good as the groomsman she’s paired up with. When you’re an accessory to the photo, you smile through the pain because those are not the shoes you would have chosen. A soul is composed of being and belief, but a blister is the result of friction grating against thin skin. Putting on a pretty face is akin to dressing for both sorrow and success. If I had a word to leave behind in my election acceptance it would be this, Catch the undomesticated beast by the toe, no matter how loud he hollers … never let him go.
Daniel Romo is the author of Moonlighting as an Avalanche (Tebot Bach 2021), Apologies in Reverse (FutureCycle Press 2019), When Kerosene’s Involved (Mojave River Press 2014), and Romancing Gravity (Silver Birch Press 2013). He received an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte, and he lives, teaches, and bench presses in Long Beach, CA. More at danieljromo.com.
