An Earthen Jar.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

college
she wrote a poem for me

i read it and did not keep it
i took her for a walk far from the university
under the moon
i did not tell her
though she waited and she said she wants to go
back
afraid that i was fooling her

the day after that
she brought a man and she put her arm on his waist
without a word
she showed how she could find a man herself
who could assure her that she is a woman

she was like a huge earthen bowl
empty and showing to the clouds that she needed
the rain, much rain to fill her up.