Polylemma Poem by Sarah Swillen

After 20 years you tell me that you’d write music to my words
It’s only because someone has told me my poetry matters.
Now it matters to you because it’s important to someone else.
What am I supposed to write about that?
That you did it for her and I was your rhythm,
but you didn’t play for me when I needed to listen.
And you didn’t cry when I walked out the door.
But you cried to me years ago about her
You didn’t handle it well when you needed something different.
And I let it go by bc this is more than co-dependence.
It’s an adult with issues and a child of its own,
Not some old words on paper that could have been a song.