Reading Instructions For My Wife
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Honey
when you find these
words, remember
I am not glorifying
my ragged past,
I am merely documenting it
because if I don not write them
then the events go with me
to the great beyond
and the faces and names
and awkward positions
will not fit anywhere
So I must confess them here
and perhaps set them free
so all the pain
I ever endured or lavished
on the naive and trusting heart
will have not been suffered
in vain
the white hot anger
that gave birth to my
self-destruction and that I
sent stealthily into
others' lives and hearts
masqueraded as ardor
or the beautifully pure
unblemished offering
I treated preciously
and the final heartsick sigh
as my youth slipped away and
I left my innocence
somewhere in Anaheim
in an apartment of someone
I didn't even know
the silent agony at a
lover's betrayal and failure
as the words run wildly
ideas faces and feelings
crash headlong into each other
in my memory
all these pieces demand
voice and meaning and
honor
all these moments
holy and profane
are mine
and they made me
and true to form
some parts are uglier than others
but
as you know
that's who you married.
when you find these
words, remember
I am not glorifying
my ragged past,
I am merely documenting it
because if I don not write them
then the events go with me
to the great beyond
and the faces and names
and awkward positions
will not fit anywhere
So I must confess them here
and perhaps set them free
so all the pain
I ever endured or lavished
on the naive and trusting heart
will have not been suffered
in vain
the white hot anger
that gave birth to my
self-destruction and that I
sent stealthily into
others' lives and hearts
masqueraded as ardor
or the beautifully pure
unblemished offering
I treated preciously
and the final heartsick sigh
as my youth slipped away and
I left my innocence
somewhere in Anaheim
in an apartment of someone
I didn't even know
the silent agony at a
lover's betrayal and failure
as the words run wildly
ideas faces and feelings
crash headlong into each other
in my memory
all these pieces demand
voice and meaning and
honor
all these moments
holy and profane
are mine
and they made me
and true to form
some parts are uglier than others
but
as you know
that's who you married.
(Sorry I'm not more eloquent in my praise. I'll leave the eloquence to you).
