Love Comes: A Party Poem by Charlotte Ballard

I threw a party
Once for a man
Who had snuck
Into my life,
And I took as
Lover so as
To finally get
Some sleep.
I planned for fifty,
That's what he
Said, that's how
Many people he
Knows as friends.
I sent invitations,
I went door to door.
I asked for RSVPs.
I received none.
Still I planned -
Pizzas and party
Space, and most of
A check spent -
That should have
Gone to the rent
Three days late.
No one came, even
The man came late -
With his brother and
Wife, and all thier little
Mice. I sent the pizza
Home with them, because
No one came,
And I was ashamed
That I had believed him.