POEM: "When It Stopped"

When It Stopped

                                           

Almost summer 
on a gentle night
you can kill a poem
writing it too carefully

anyway by writing too easily

When did Shanghai stop loving you 

was it at the train station
was it in the hotel room
did a malignancy grow
out of the subway system?

Name me a street and spit 
kill the heart and disconnect
disappear in the twilight
walk your invisible walk
past me I am silent

If you can kill a city 
keep the countryside intact
wander the fields of the mind
kicking stones like poems
down a dark and endless track

It was between the rains
yes it was one summer night
when I asked for laughter
for a kindness and a kiss
when the city stopped loving me


© 2016 Rob Schackne