At Two O’clock In The Afternoon Poem by RIC BASTASA

You complicate yourself
It is hot and you need a fan
You sweat
And in between some quick naps
You snap
For some missing thoughts
And you said
You need something to take
To remember
What you miss awhile
You need coffee
Or lemon tea
You do not want
Something cold
This is the hot portion of the day
And you do not want to crack
You scribble
There is something that is terribly lacking
In this foreplay of a good remembering
Something passionate
Or romantic
Or something to shock you so you do not
Get sleepy
You remember some lines at the tip
Of your tongue
But you cannot complete what you just remember
You sip coffee
It is so sweet and you do not like sugar
At two o’clock in the afternoon
You are half awake
You want to write but you cannot remember
You would rather sleep
But it is just too hot
And you are sweating

You keep mumbling words
Keeping yourself busy with what you
Remember and forget and cannot
Completely discard
Something is bugging you really
You know
You just don’t want to say it
You simply want to ignore it
It is facing you confronting you
Like a neighbor wanting
A fistfight
You turn your head away
And you keep saying it is hot and I
Need coffee but there is so much sugar
I can have tea, I am busy
Either you can have her or me

Not both, for God’s sake
Face it.