conclusions never finished

conclusions never finished

i carved your initials

into my desk, under the pad, under the ink blot

under my heart

into the skin of my perusing

even though you were using

me

to put your ego on a pedestal

where you feel most comfortable

i wrote epic poems of unrequited love

as you wrote Pulitzer worthy "see you later" notes

and left them on the kitchen table

tucked neatly under the salt shaker

you used to pour insult into the wound

once again... a single place setting

i spun my coffee cup

twirled the spilled mocha

with my thumb and forefinger

singed with the pain

matched only by that in my heart

the stanzas lengthened 

your goodbye notes got shorter

my sense of security burned in the toaster

with the bread i forgot was put down twice

now i had been, thrice

black toast

black ops 

love in virtual vulnerability

my words splayed upon a screen

they all saw you leaving

felt my pain

shed a tear or two for me

and then panned my poem

more often than any 49'er panned for gold

the coffee chilled

the last note said "gone"

and inadvertently i remembered

i wrote it myself

as a postscript 

to the epic poem i never finished

just partially scrawled

on imagined parchment

made out of napkin memory

soaked with the tears i breathe.

erin-cilberto

2/26/17

Reviews

[andrew mitchell]

Hard to let go of unfinished business in the matters of the heart even though the ocean is full we seem reluctant to try the new and keep the catch we hooked.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, andrew.
j.

[Ruth]

I don't think I have read about a broken heart so deeply in a while...the masterful way this is written really hits home and renders me still...leaves such a lonely chill in my bones and yet such an appreciation for your writing, amazing Jacob :)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, Poppy.
j.

[Threads]

Gosh.
Reading this I have one thing to say, and that is: wow. I really have a long way to go and much to improve on.
" i wrote epic poems of unrequited love
as you wrote Pulitzer worthy "see you later" notes
and left them on the kitchen table
tucked neatly under the salt shaker
you used to pour insult into the wound "
That stanza in particular blew me away in the way it solidifies the desperate motive of the poem.
Thank you for this read. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
-Threads

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Threads.

j.

[h d e rushin]

when i was in high school i learned and would recite Walter Benton's "This is My Beloved". I mean, The entire book from cover to cover. It was all the rage then since Lawrence Harvey and Arthur Prysock had both made albums of this verse. But I never got to use it...I mean, no women wanted me to recite it to her....I mention this because the third and forth stanza's here launched my memory back to those days of unrequited, yet unfulfilled romance. You Jacob either could read my 17 year old mind or you and me were the same person of different parents. Whatever...

you're a master......dana

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we might have been the same...we seem to think on like wavelengths...quite often...
thank you, dana..
j.

[Jimmy Yetts]

A virtual mini-movie powerfully portraying lost love.
Many of us have co-starred in similar productions; few conveyed by such award-winning writing.
Bravo, author!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

you are very kind, Jimmy...

thank you,

j.

[Tony Jordan]

Each succulent metaphor reveals the sorrowful tale, like singular strokes of the brass rubber's charcoal on paper over a monument, here Jacob.
That we end up filling in the gaps - writing on their behalf in efforts to understand - is the job of the broken-hearted.
Brilliantly moving poem.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your very kind review, Tony.
j.

[Julia Ledo]

I loved the extended metaphors and how one stanza seemed to bleed into the other. Another favorite for me

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your very kind review, Julia.
j.

[Ken Simm.]

Oh been there. Went away and came back to do it again. What I always enjoy in your work Jacob is how you take a universal thought, truth, occurence and make it art.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

that is a really kind compliment, Ken...appreciate that you feel the work has merit.

j.

[barleygirl]

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! This is one of the best of yours I've read so far! I love the way your overall message is extended into a story-like expression of so many feelings & observations. I love the excellent play on words in so many places, in so many ways, & all with awesome congruity.

(I've been gone from this website awhile & I've missed reading you! This is a great place to return to & enjoy your poetry!)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your very kind words, my friend.
j.

[Valentine]

I love this write, one of your very best. I am putting it into my favorites. Valentine

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, Kathie..

j.