Mentor of Heartbreak: a poem

Salmon of Knowledge by Kat Heatherington


Mentor of Heartbreak

Six months I've wrestled
with our last time together --
when we were not together at all.

I, devastated by much Rose D'Anjou;
You, wondering if I really would jump
over the balcony near our motel room
into the snow.

Our sharing, identified
by a room number,
was diminished in that setting.
You wrapped me in your arms
and I kissed your chest as you slept.

I wished for invisibility before you woke
so you would not see me pale and ill
from the wine,
so I wouldn't have to plan
where you should drive me,
so I would not have to tell you goodbye
while all the while wanting
to say I love you one more time.

That snow gave way to rain in spring.
Lately, while loving summer,
I have considered the spawning of salmon.

- MLydiaM, 1977; March 2011

Jingle Poetry invited me to submit 1-3 poems for Monday Poetry Potluck. Jingle said that, as a first-timer in the Jingle-community of poets, I could submit an old poem and did not have to stick with the theme this Monday: Idols, Role Models, and Mentors. I found an untitled poem in my file that is definitely old, and in a way it has to do with a mentorship of my 20-something fragmented self.

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