Original Work

Since I opened with Ai's poem, I figured I'd better follow up with something original of mine that came from that poem. I wrote this about six years ago, and have been doing some reworking on it. There are still some posts I'm not completely happy with, but poetry is always a work in progress.

Ai’s Black Goat
I Have Got to Stop Loving You So I Have Killed My Black Goat -Ai (poem title)

You and he are in a cauldron
tied back to back and I’m
cutting vegetable like I used to for our
post-work dinners and pre-argument appetizers.

Suddenly, there is Ai and her black goat telling me
I’m getting it all wrong.
And he is waiting patiently for his turn in
the story, but I think he’s getting distracted
by a figure in the distance,
another woman I can’t discern, while you
are crying out to me and goat’s blood is engulfing
your heart. But I can’t stop yearning for him, remembering our passion that still carries
weight in my soul even while the blood is overwhelming you.

I climb in because I can’t reach him, and you are drowning at my feet,
holding on to my ankles, any anchor that keeps me near you, and I am reaching for something strong to hold
onto while he slips through my fingers and suddenly
you are both gone.

And I am alone in a sacrifice gone wrong.
The goat’s blood coagulates in the cold cauldron and Ai turns away shaking her head. I reach out,
but even she is gone.