Overread at Booth 3: We All Wanted Lovers

We all wanted lovers that we could never have,
the freshman in college, the pledge, the classmate,
the intern, the co-worker in the next cubicle,
the cashier at the grocery store checkout counter,
the student in Bible study,
the banker, the lawyer, the garage shop attendant,
the White, the Black, the Asian, the Native American,
the Muslim the Jew the Buddhist the rebel
the saint the sinner the punk the sosh the dweeb the
geek the rocker the stoner the one with kind eyes or
the one with kinky hair or the one who never gave
us a second glance or the one who stared at us dreamily,

and we wonder about the lovers we never had
but with we wonder too long their images will drive us mad
and that, my friends, as you know, would be quite,
well,
sad.

Sad at the loss of wanting lovers to love us instead of
us being the lovers that other lovers need us to be for them,

because at the end of all these wretched days, we must learn,
that to be loved,
we have to be the first one to open our arms
wide,
and fall, body first,

into the waiting, anxious heart of another human being.




MR
2019-0724