By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: August 24, 2003

I am dying inside
He wanted to say
And it’s so easy to write about
Angst
She said
And I don’t understand
Why anyone would be so foolish
Neither do I he said
And they both were having trouble
Reading
This sort-of poem
Was broken dialogue
Like broken other things
That if you don’t know I’m not going to tell you
Which, like love, also fails
To make any sense

You think that perhaps
If you play the piano
Long enough
Pound the keys
Hard
(until the fingers bleed a bit)
that notes will remain
fluent in the air
and never die

you think if
I pound this
Hard enough
it will stay
with me
invade my silence
destroy
and make me whole again
with its long pause

where are you going?
I’m the one who
Promised to leave