don’t you dare leave this godforsaken party without me

you wield the power

to piss me off like a teenager

even though most of my life has been

a series of photographs without you

where I’m pictured waiting to stop smiling

just as a neighbor’s car explodes outside

so when you walk into a party

grab my arm

& pull me off to the patio of congressional smokers

where sacred things are whispered between drags

be ready to explain why the music got louder

as we stepped through the door &

the poem you wrote into the shape of a gun

fired on my heart at point blank range

please understand

we’ve skipped over the part when

you get to offer me tea