Names Come November
A longer poem of mine, posted on the papers page. An excerpt:

I fell in love with the woman
Who said my name
And it wasn’t narcisstic
Except in that easy way
Of smiling when you hear
Your name in a poem,
Of smiling
At your face in a mirror,
Of smiling at the one you love for sheer love
And putting her name
In a poem.
I fell in love with the woman
Saying my name.
I turned around but she never said it again
I think maybe she forgot
                        forgot the syllables
                        forgot how
                        forgot ___my name

And it was a drizzly November in my soul, or
It would have been, but
November couldn’t come
Come November
November couldn’t come
You can’t ask directions to a soul without a name.