A Poem About Love Or The Things That Keep Us Together Poem by Alexandre Nodopaka

are a source of irritation between her and me.
They are very small except they deal with
quantitative arithmetic.

For instance she understands allowing me
a head cover or two but she can't fathom
why I must have a dozen.

I tell her it's to cover as many occasions
the way she hoards shoes and purses
for every seasonal occasion.

Now in regard to potted shrubbery
I understand having a dozen but
one hundred and thirty is somewhat

excessive but since it's one of my form of
exercise besides climbing fifty times a day
the stairs to the second floor bringing her

morning coffee and sometimes love.
Of course it appears I have a green thumb
and the thought crossed my mind

why not raise five-leafers and make some
mullah on the side. Now back to why
I shuffle so much between the upstairs and

the downstairs is because of where
my office is while my studios,
yes I have also many, are mostly in the

garage and outdoors all around
the decks extending onto the boat
where my hammock is stretched.

I like my crotch ventilated when I'm
suspended between the poles reading
some important literature about what's

happening in the world, like who killed
whom and how many and whether the bodies
look like diced sashimi.

It's crucial information that keeps my
brain cells cycling round and round.
preventing their fossilization.

Sometimes I feel my thinking could
influence world events but then I know it's
the Vodka that makes me think like that.

Of course she tries to limit my consumption
of Russian spirits but I tell her there's no
spiritual growth without spirits.

Yes, we both laugh afterwards but less and less.
We're still together but less and less
on account of thirty-five years.

~~~