Polite Squaring

Please
don’t seek, I’m forgiving him
a diseased elation, she’ll say it’s
sinister…proof of my nature..

Please
don’t seek, I’m raising him
elected episodes, she’ll
say his only value…out cold—

Please
don’t tell, I’m writing her
a love poem, she’ll say it’s all
I did, ever…really want to do..

Please
don’t tell, I’m cheating her
off my interiority, she’ll say
I would be better…cleaning off a shelf;

Please
don’t yell, I’m leaving them
over to Bellevue, she’ll say some
betrayal…the good never there..

Please
don’t say, we are both
spiritual death…she’ll speak
how it early arrives…its easy, insular decor…

Please
don’t say • our measure won’t be
compromised, she’ll infer, insisting a
lingering…demeaning, personal touch—

Please
don’t honor, an extra-legal
reversion…only a lobby, quoth all:
“speculative, uncertain”…

Please
don’t honor, the mattress unearthed
is sheer • is unplucked..she’ll say we were
handmaking a dismantling, little else—

Please
don’t remind, home-life story
unrolled…she’ll say off, zero..
merit…then, and irreducibly then…

Please
don’t unmind, complicated they’re
leftover at the pantry…I’ll say he couldn’t
hunger…take it, entrapment by spite—

Please
don’t continue, the weariness has
ceased like a maze, she’ll say
badmouthing helps, as with congestion.

Please
don’t happen…over, when you
have heirs, and don’t linger • sad songs
sing unresponsive…your skill even less…

Please
don’t bother, a gift banters along,
oblivious… she’ll say it doesn’t pay off,
the bank often shut…

Please
don’t bother, I’m working to
a living series, she’ll say I’m rarely sensitive…
the chase in the work, complete—