You - you left me with a love
for a color I'd never seen before.
Only to see a sign in the mall
that read "Chartruse sweater
50% off to a good home
with the right skin tones -
because we'd never sell you
anything that could wash you out."
And I knew in that instant
I had to get the sweater and
that it would be my new favorite
and I'd wear it for all of my
highs and lows while we went
through that phase of poeting
to each other without actually
talking in any way shape or form.
And it was. I wore it the morning
I failed my driver's test and I wore
it on my way to my current home
and I wore it to parks and slams
and I looked my very best in it
even when I was at my worst.
Which is to say that you - you
my chartruse enveloped painter
of a poet, you my long distanced
everything and nothing , you
revolving around the past and
the lost and the forgotten too -
you are the reason for
this obsession and for the
trap I walked myself into
using your name as the excuse.
