Love’s Cold Smile by Gerald Wagoner

Silent, a shadow skirts the sleeping beast, 

the way you detour black ice on sidewalks. 

Never mention pain, nor love’s cold smiles. 

Do not share what stirs you in the night. 

 

The way you sidestep black on sidewalks 

like a crossover quick step from lockdown,

you never share what stirs your nights.

Avoid that door. It is your bloody mouth.

 

Crossover foxtrots glide toward lockdown.

Mime muted sounds that fall short of talk.

Avoid that door. it is your bloody mouth;

teeth broken on rough bricks left unsaid.

 

Mime muted voices failing short of words.

Measure the tenor of their folded eyes;

teeth cracked by rough bricks left unsaid.

Demand to stare into your ancient mirror.

 

Measure the tenor of your blinded eyes;

never mention pain, nor love’s cold smiles. 

Demand to stare into your ancient mirror.

Silent, a shadow skirts the sleeping beast.

 

About the Poet:

Gerald Wagoner, author of When Nothing Wild Remains, ( Broadstone Books, 2023), and A Month of Someday, (Indolent Books, 2023)) says his childhood was divided between Eastern Oregon and  Cut Bank, Montana, where he was raised under the doctrine of benign neglect. Gerald has lived in Brooklyn, NY. since 1982. He exhibited widely and taught Art & English for the NYC department of Education.

2018: Visiting Poet Residency Brooklyn Navy Yard. 2019, 2021-23: Curator/ host of A Persistence of Cormorants, an outdoors reading series by the Gowanus Canal. 2023 April, Poets Afloat Mini-Residency, Waterfront Barge Museum.

Education: U of Montana, BA Creative Writing, 1970, SUNY Albany, MA & MFA Sculpture

Selected Publications:  Beltway Quarterly, BigCityLit, Blue Mountain Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, Night Heron Barks, Ocotillo Review, Right Hand Pointing, Maryland Literary Review.