DECADES AFTER OUR WEDDING
by Robert K. Johnson
A reader since the age of five,
I’ve envisioned hundreds of novels’ scenes—
Huck floating toward Cairo on his raft,
the army’s retreat in A Farewell to Arms,
Anna Karenina’s suicide.
But even so, I can’t imagine
you not at the breakfast table discussing
the headlines with me nor checking the fridge
at noon for leftovers we can share
nor next to me watching a TV show
because whenever, hearing the news
of still another friend’s chemo treatments
or funeral service, I am steered
toward imagining you not in my life,
everything inside me rises up
and shouts “No no no no!”
Copyright © 2008 by Robert K. Johnson.