Deal-Breaker Poem by Patti Masterman

The phone rings and startles you,
And you see it's him- the one with whom
There's so much water under the bridge.
And his voice sounds surprised too
That you bothered to answer at all.

Talking to him, you realize
He's calling out of desperation,
Having burned all his other connections-
And perhaps your number came back only
Because of long force of habit, or else something

Unknowable; reasons he won't admit even to self.
So you do the back-and-forth of polite society,
Agreeing to help him accomplish this thing
He feels he needs to do, while realizing at some moment
(When both voices have become too still)

That at some time in the past, you must have begun trying
To remake him into your father; as if you felt that
You had lost your father too soon, not enough notice
Was given, and you wanted another chance
To prove your love, but instead it only confused you

Because he was not your father, while your myopic mind
Was busy telling you, you must be falling in love,
That it must be some undue attachment
That needed severing, and you welcomed the axe's fall-
Though you could never have cut him loose yourself.

And now that he needs some mothering, some care
It's shocking how cold you feel inside,
Though once you tried to bond yourself to this same stranger
Through false bonds of surety, and you brokered
Your soul, just to mortgage the deal.