Poetry By Matthew Borczon

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In the days before her death
 

Ann Sextons

daughter remembers

her mother

complaining about

how heavy

her purse

was then opening

it to find

51 Bic lighters

she had gathered

without knowing it
 

and all I

can think

about now

is all the

things she

had to

set fire to

her negative

reviews her

divorce papers

the letters from

her doctors

her lovers

her friends

the letters

her daughters

never answered
 

she wanted

to burn down

the very idea

of poetry set

fire to the

space between

artist and reader

then set fire

to her

honorary degrees

her books

her clothes

that no longer

fit when she

took the drugs

as prescribed

by her doctor
 

and while she

was at it

let’s burn

her doctors

who’s transcribed

notes become

part of her

biography just

like her infidelities

and her in hospital

stays all her life
 

Ann Sexton set

fire to her hair

and skin

to make the

poetry that

would explain

all the things

her family

never understood

things psychoanalyst’s

could not explain away

things she could

not drink to forget
 

but on her

last day

on her last

visit to her

last doctor

she left

her cigarettes

behind a plant

with her last

Bic lighter

sitting on top.


 


The hard way
 
You learn

the hard

way not

to draw

to an

inside strait

not to

kiss a girl

with a

dagger tattoo

you learn

the hard

way that

only punchers

have a chance

that opposites

attract but

never stick

that love

dies young

you learn

the hard

way that

even begging

is a job

that no one

cares about

your unwritten

novel

you learn

the hard

way that

God is

not dead

he just

doesn’t care

that nothing

beats hard work

and hard work

beats nothing

you learn

the hard

way that

poets die

alone and

that the

only reason

to ever write

it all down

is to stop

the pounding

between

your ears.




Matthew Borczon is a poet and a recently retired Navy Sailor from Erie Pa. He has written 17 books of poetry, his latest, PTSD: a Living Will, is available from Rust Belt Press. When not writing Matt is an LPN and a father of four children.
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