Poetry Porch: Poetry

 

EITHER/OR
by Ted Richer 

She was behind me, unseen.
 

“A new one?” she said.
 

I considered.
 

“Just finished,” I said.
 

Unseen, she said: “May I read it?” 
 

I considered.
 

“It may upset you.” 
 

“Why—is it about me, again?” 
 

I considered.
 

“Why do you read it that way?” 
 

“Why do you write it that way?” 
 

I considered.
 

“All right,” I said, “read it.” 
 

So.
 

She was behind me, unseen.
 

“You have it right,” she said.
 

I considered.
 

“I love being your muse,” she said.
 

I considered.
 

“I’m staying,” she said.
 

Still, I considered:
 

A new one.
 

Or.
 

She is behind me, unseen.
 

“A new one?” she says.
 

I consider.
 

“Just finished,” I say.
 

Unseen, she says: “May I read it?”
 

I consider.
 

“It may upset you.”
 

“Why — is it about me, again?”
 

I consider.
 

“Why do you read it that way?”
 

“Why do you write it that way?”
 

I consider.
 

“All right,” I say, “read it.”
 

Still.
 

She is behind me, unseen.
 

“You have it wrong,” she says.
 

I consider.
 

“I hate being your muse,” she says.
 

I consider.
 

“I’m leaving,” she says.
 

So, I consider: /i>
 

A new one.
 

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Copyright © 2003 by Ted Richer. From The Writer in the Story and Other Figurations by Ted Richer. Great Britain: Apocalypse Press, 2003. Used with permission.