Poems That Touch You
(title in a bookstore)
by David Feela, forthcoming in the Aspen Poets’ Society Anthology
I’ve read poetry that didn’t
touch me, and the truth is —
if I had to choose — I’d prefer
what’s less invasive.
Sadness, rage, hormonal
indiscretion — it all amounts to
a form of lyrical masturbation
like a Shakespearean sonnet
that couples with itself
in the last two lines.
I do not want any indiscriminate
touching when I pick a book
off the shelf and stand in the aisle
reading a page or two,
clueless as to what I’ll feel.
Boundaries assert themselves
in a world so random.
Once I touched a girl
who didn’t expect it,
a sweet spot she preferred
to keep to herself.
To her, I am no different
than the poem she had
to memorize in the fifth grade
and has since forgotten.
If art imitates life
then let us not be touched
when all we want
is to be moved.
***
David Feela is a participating poet in the Rocky Mountain Poetry Series. Subscribe today to receive a year’s supply of excellent poetry-and to support local Colorado poets like David!
Tags: Guest Post, National Poetry Month, Poem