Shut the Window
You asked me once if I would shut the window,
I stood up as calmly as possible and complied.
The room grew heavy with our intended silence,
though the world outside continued its rush and roar.
Moments passed us by one worry at a time,
everything seemed equally misdirected in our lives.
What had begun with all the many promises we made,
settled itself around us as some B-movies will do.
We recognized just a few of the characters on screen,
they talked about each other in such oblique ways.
Occasionally a word passed secretively between us,
I understood this, you meant just the exact opposite.
All the special codes we contrived together long ago,
a type of banter only lovers take the time to know,
fell into disrepair. We left ourselves outside each other.
You asked me once if I would shut the window,
I stood up as calmly as possible and complied.
Paul Strohm is a free lance journalist working in the Houston, Texas area. His poems have been published in the Berkeley Poets Cooperative, Green’s Literary Magazine, WIND: A Literary Journal, and other online sites. He plays golf to occupy his time during poems.