Forget Poem by Keith Rushing

I asked you not to phone
I asked you to forget
grievous to hear a voice so beset
by lamenting longing for me

The pills don't really help much
melancholy as intransigent as the scorching sun
They call it therapy resistant
a homeostasis of neurotic persistence

I wish I could be like you
I really do
so normal, so gay, so ebullient
so eager, so joyful, so light,
so God-awful ready to meet each new day

I can only harm myself dear
that's why we're apart
I asked you not to phone
I asked you to forget

the suffering of seriousness
realism of immutable truths
the pinching pliers of precision
pathos of colliding decisions

I asked you to forget