New Poetry Project Returns: Poem 1 – "Ain't Nobody"

Since I'm in the process of editing and sequencing the new & selected collection, I had a spur of the moment idea this week to resurrect the New Poetry Project. I looked back to see when I last did this and it was four years ago! 

For those who don't remember or are new to the blog, I basically post a selection of poems over a few days. The poems are generally still in draft form, meaning they aren't quite fully baked, but close enough that I'm okay to show them. Comments welcome. 

For New Poetry Project 2021, I've chosen three poems, which will appear here and on my social media starting today, Dec. 22, with "Ain't Nobody." Tomorrow, Dec. 23, I'll post "Pilot of the Airwaves," and for Christmas Eve, "What Mary Bailey Saw."

Ain't Nobody

That week after Denver undid me, 
after you arrived in the famous red jacket,
exorcised past & future lovers out of me
with your holy mouth & temple body,
I came home desperate to find your equal. 

I took a lover for every inch of you I was missing.
Maybe it was eight or nine — you'd say 10 —
but I won't quibble over skin & blood & bone.

We won’t survive this distance.
For years to come you’ll still message,
send photos, keep me on the hook.
Little reminders that the pale imitations
that have come since will never measure up.