I Have Never Written A Love Poem Poem by Jeffrey Obomeghie

I have never written a love poem
I should probably write one
Every poet has one
Yeats, Elliott, Rexroth, and even that mad Russian whose name I can never remember

I should probably write a love poem
Something like The Love Poems of Marichiko
Or the Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock
Which come to think of it is not really a love song
Or something like the graceful hymns of Moore, well-behaved poetry draped with flora and fauna
Examining the unexamined life
Maybe a poem like Senghor or p'Bitek,
Full of longing, betrayal, and delicious anguish

I should probably write a love poem
Something that generations can remember me by
Something that can be etched on a stone
That my children can brag about
But my children were never the type for poetry.
Poetry makes their eyes hurt
Like church bells ringing too early and too loud, discordant
Or the prayers of a priest, mumbling at a cloud, dissonant

My children, poetry burns their eyes
like an astringent bought at a bazaar from a one-eyed trader with bad breath and leprous hands

I should probably write a love poem
But I am chasing the rabbit of inspiration
Watching it disappear into the hole of porous memory
My life has been an endless journey through a deceitful desert to a land that doesn't exist
Where the sun spits in your face
And the wind cries shame at you
Even famished dogs hide when I approach
offering a piece of flesh ripped from my own side

I have never written a love poem
I should probably write one
But how do I start?