Poem 4, Sonnet

Sonnet

After watching the video of your lover
sleeping with a man, first you wondered
why it had taken you so long to realize
it wasn’t you you had been watching,
rather some bastard she brought to your bed,
some son-of-a-bitch who didn’t even have
the dignity to smooth out the sheets afterward
or wash his hands before using your house phone
to call who-knows-who. Sitting there, watching
the video with volume this time, you hear the way she goes
into everything with such enthusiasm; you resign yourself
and second you decide maybe it’s unreasonable

to expect much more. Third, you put on a pot of tea,
get out two mugs and wait for her to come home.




--marlo barrera
september 2009