Thirty-two

What beauty imparted was more than skin deep.

Truth hung upon her every word.

Once he described her as misunderstood, she raised the bottom line.

Truth claims this didn’t begin as nine lines, it was the mind.

He always says believe me, as if no one ever does.

Nobody’s convinced he’s dead, and from the grave, he says so be it.

Truth was usually so lost in thought,

he couldn’t recall what he came in for.

Many times, he’d have to close his eyes to remember.

From The Mind (Salmon Poetry, 2011)

John FitzGerald is the author of The Mind (Salmon Poetry, 2011), the novel in verse Spring Water (Turning Point Books prize 2005), and Telling Time by the Shadows (Turning Point Books, 2008). His fourth collection, Favorite Bedtime Stories, is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry in 2014. He has contributed to the anthologies From the Four Chambered Heart: In Tribute to Anais Nin (Sybaritic Press, 2013). Poetry: Reading it, Writing it, Publishing it (Salmon Poetry 2009) and Dogs Singing: A Tribute Anthology (Salmon Poetry 2011) as well as to many literary magazines. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland.