Sticks and Stones: A Debate Between Ex-Lovers (Volume 2)

Continuing Volume 2: What It Was Like

Cynthia:
all i see is a balloon
a red, bloated balloon
ripe for pricking
staring back at me
look what you have done to me!

Danny:
is he really mine?
...
...
forgive me
but this is not the first time a gun was pointed at my face.

Sticks and Stones: A Debate Between Ex-Lovers (Volume 2)

Continuing Volume 2: What It Was Like

Cynthia:
he is not the first
but he is our son
he is the reason why we are waging war now
he is as good as any son,
as any child who will carry your name
and they will love him
by God, they will

or else, i'll hear my heart break.

Danny:
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...

Sticks and Stones: A Debate Between Ex-Lovers (Volume 2)

Continuing Volume 2: What It Was Like

Cynthia:
did i not tell you they loathe me
they hate me
believed that beer bottles exist in my womb
instead of a mere boy
they spat at my back
as if i do not know
and rolled their eyes whilst they consoled me

do you here me, husband?

Danny:
woman, stop your wailing.
did i not tell you that life will be like this
but you believed otherwise
i am trapped in your web of lies
with a gun forever pointed to my face
do i not suffer also
i do not want to see what you want me to see

do you understand?

Sticks and Stones: A Debate Between Ex-Lovers (Volume 2)

Volume 2: What It Was Like

Cynthia:
what a way to die
beside a man whose face i do not see
every night
as his calm hands rove my body
likened to tiny spiders
ready to draw webs
of uncanny wrath which i never knew he owned
he is somewhere now i know
she graces his thoughts
then, now, always

Danny:
what a way to die
beside a woman whose face i do not know
every morning
as i cupped her face with my steady hands
like holding diamonds
drowning, forever drowning in its pricelessness
smiling in her sleep
i know she dreams of adventures
and probably, i fear, of that other doctor
then, now, always

Cynthia: Where was the man I married?
Danny: Who is this woman I married?

Sticks and Stones: A Debate Between Ex-Lovers (Volume 1 )

Volume 1: How They Met

1975

here was where they stole one another's future
the healers bend to breathe life to the willing
and angels wait in dark halls to snatch lives whenever they can
here was where she burned the picture of that man
while he---hid the memories of that nurse
in the depths of his sleep
they held their hands out to reach each other's throats
ready for the kill
1975
the dreaded year
she stashed her traveling bags under their beds
along with the million promises of the man who came back too late
as for him, he folded his nurse's scent into the tiniest parcel
away from her prying eyes
and they waged their war against the world that day
each with swords too big for them to carry
like children playing house
"I am Baba and you are Mama"
they played but lost
played until their 23rd year but lost still
Lancelot and Elaine
fate tagged their babies with prices
one with confusion, the other with dependence and the youngest with
wanderlust
for the sins of 1975
a toast to their bitter union
a toast to borrowed love lost
the end of it all