Sending You Into The World I Should Say, Something Poem by B.A. Newmark

1.
You will meet people,
keep it simple,
make eye contact,
touch their hand and push your hair back.
Listen.
They will have questions.
You can tell a person by their questions.
"Where has the money gone?"
Say, "There was no money."
"Not ever?"
"No not ever."
"What should I say if they ask…more"
"Say the truth"
"If they ask where have I been, what should I tell them"
"Tell them you've been right here all along, beside me. They will understand."
2.
Desire is an ancient city with four stone gates
The Gate of Longing
The Gate of Rage
The Gate of Resignation
The Mercy Gate.

Go in the last gate.
The market is confused and hot,
Old men munch on empty days of sunflower seeds.
and the soldiers stand around talking
in the patios either of defeat or victory.

We are set apart
By some exact archaic law
Re: fabric: woven together linen and wool are forbidden.

Wisely, I know you pick wool
it will be cool in heat and warm in cold

All of it a long protracted love
Lit by a roadside flare
you do not come from pioneers
but from survivors that follow
behind and glean
filling our soft pockets
with what they dropped
their abandoned kisses, bits of grain
They were so artless,
so mercantile.
Those strangers you shouldn't have spoken to.