“I talk of dreams”

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

“guard your person while you take your nap” ~Shakespeare ~ The Tempest, Act 2, sc. 1

“Well, I’ll fetch my nap again” Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Introduction, sc. 2 [Christopher Sly speaks these words]

A minor inconvenience is what he

Perceives me as.  He offers me the sop

Of one brief call each day, that’s if it be

Convenient for him, or he sends a slop

Of English messages but only brief,

Brief, BRIEF and only if their briefness leaves

Me puzzled, guessing like a trembling leaf

In empty wind.  His lack of caring heaves

Away respect for me — or him.  At best

He aims to be unclear — to cause a rift

Between us.  I am treated like a pest

That keeps him from a nap. His love is thrift.

  He’s happiest when he can send a squirt

    Of words if short enough to cause love hurt.

© Phillip Whidden