This looks so much better on my site – come visit
or view the PDF here…
it should be about something.
like love
or a man who spends nearly a quarter of his life
– coming home……………………………after a war.
sure the gods and the winds were against him
but there was stuff in him too — ývris we call it.
and his garden’s ruined,
pots all cracked, the vines
and his house is full of bludger bastards
getting pissed and
coming on to his wife.
but his dog
remembers.
had a love like that
(and a dog too)
hurt just to look at her
right here, like a cramp
but deeper, it was regret
for all the women
and money at the track
and the cowardice
of not spending
every single
breath
on her.
if only she’d forgive me,
let me become the man
right there she
deserved but
there was
so, so much
to forgive.
she said i was being ridiculous,
i should forgive myself –
or just fuck off.
so i marry a woman who complains
about everything
and smacks my head
and gives me an allowance
on Friday night like the kids
but we get on.
life’s stuff
i don’t recognise mostly
my philosophy………………………………………[we greeks invented]
don’t think too hard.
there you go
right there
that’s what you
should write.
Image: unattributed chalk drawing outside the front bar (early opener), Port Kembla Hotel, Wentworth St, Port Kembla. And here’s the (fantastic) Necks with Drive By. for your next journey.
Linked tonight with dVerse – the Poets’ Pub – where Kim is hosting open link night #205
Peter Frankis writes 
I love this style of writing. Nice.
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I feel so many layers in this… but the lasting impression is regret.
What if is one of the darkest things to live
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At least Odysseus made it home.
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The opening line reminds me of what a child once said about poetry: ‘It should be about something’.
Poor Odysseus took so long to get home, was it worth coming home at all? Everything happened on the way. No matter how dark, it has happened, and regret means we’ve learnt something from it all.
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Don’t regret, get back on the boat.
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Sadly, the story of many marriages! An intriguing write.
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Love this, Peter! I felt like we were having a conversation, face to face.
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This is great. I too, like the different layers of this. The perception of time is well written and very interesting!
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Thanks Rachel, glad you liked it.
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Recently, I read an article that in earlier days women who used to “take care of their husbands” very well and those who had some psychiatric issues were given smile therapy!! Can you believe that.
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Ha. Wonder if it worked😀
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This is so beautifully evocative.. it almost felt like a conversation 🙂
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Odysseus is a character I dislike heartily. As you say, it took him forever to get home and when he did he complained, and blamed and chastened. At least your persona had the grace to back out and try somewhere else. I like this and it’s Homeric overtones.
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this is wonderful. makes me think of a Paul Kelly song. The Necks are so great
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This is a great write and asks us to ponder many a thing. The hardest of those being self forgiveness when we know we did many a wrong. Death by a thousand thoughts.
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