Exit

by Gloria Mindock


I hide from you in ways
you’ll never know.
In this empty house, it is easy.
You were condemned a year ago
because the sky went dark—
stars exiled.

All life is dying, even the pavement
we walked on.
Ok, this is a lie,
but is it?

I sit on the same porch everyday
wondering how many times you will
go out, come in.
A dance of the angry.
No perception of song.
A bleak fire burning on the stove,
in the fireplace, in your eyes.

Your skin will not provide an exit wound.
Stay miserable.
Aloneness is verified.
You open your mouth to talk but can’t.
The void looms deep, scorched
like the desert blowing aimlessly.


* * * * *

"Exit" is from Gloria Mindock's poetry collection Ash forthcoming from Glass Lyre Press.

Gloria Mindock is editor of Cervena Barva Press. Her sixth collection of poetry called Ash is forthcoming from Glass Lyre Press. Gloria has been translated and published into eight languages. She was poet laureate in Somerville, MA in 2017 and 2018.