POEM: It’s not me, it’s you (November Poem-A-Day 24)

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This is poem #24 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. Today’s prompt was to write a “spaces” poem.

It’s not me, it’s you

You stay there.
I wish you were here, you said,
but it’s best for all concerned
if you stay where you are
and come no closer.

I have since turned off my phone
because the ringing
sounds like distance.

I bought a special scale
from an old man in Chinatown.
He said it measured regret.
At first I didn’t believe him.
Then he reached into my chest
and pulled out my heart.
Placed it on one side of the scale.
Told me exactly,
to the day,
how long it had been.

My new toy is here, in the kitchen.
I am sitting at the table right now
looking at it.
Next to it, in a small velvet-
covered box,
is my heart. As it turned out,
the man was better at removing
and weighing
than he was at restoration.

It’s OK, I tell myself.
I wasn’t using it anyway.
It’s not me, it’s you, you said.

Before I turned off my phone.

So I am sitting here at the
kitchen table, deciding what to put
in the space where my heart
used to be.