When You Sit Quietly Next to Me
| filed under: Poem, Poets, Poetry, Poet, Poems
©1994 Chris Abraham
When You Sit Quietly Next to Me
Reading from Norton's that poem you've been
Saving for me with a yellow tab.
It stews when the leaves are shut --
The energy mainlines through you until
You ground it into me.
The chattering verse slips to the right,
Then up,
Catty-corner to where we were before.
Your eyes tick towards me to judge reaction --
But this song moves too rapidly for you
And you become muddled like a pianist
On new music.
Some notes need to be replayed --
The rhythm reëstablished.