John Keene's Challenge

(John Keene, who's tweeting for the Poetry Foundation blog this month, tossed out a challenge last night for folks to write a particular kind of poem, so here's my attempt. Can you tell I'd just been to a blues concert?)

Always
before, she had
come to my
defense,
even if we’d been
fighting.

Guess I
hadn’t realized how
Iong it had been since I felt
just-
kissed.

Last
minute
now, we
opened ourselves,
praying for the

quiet moments that might
restore our
sense of
trust,
uncover our shared
vulnerability.

What did I
expect? My grandmother sighing:
“Why are we given
zis life, but to work?”

(I want to be writing more,
and am grateful for the endless
blank page that is the internet.)