Different Slants

Seeing the World from a New Angle

Valentine to a Wounded Wife…by Robert M. Katzman

Filed under: Life & Death,Love and Romance,Marriage and Family,My Own Personal Hell,subtle erotica — Bob at 11:50 am on Thursday, February 11, 2016

February/12/2016

I see you sleeping in a darkened room

Dry lips slightly parted

Your Scandinavian cheekbones

Distinct as ski slopes

Your blonde hair dirty and lank

Your skin is pale

You wear no make-up

And to me you are so beautiful

There are clear tubes flowing oxygen

Into your lungs

There are compression sleeves on your legs

Amazing legs that led to our children

And they squeeze periodically

Preventing blood clots

A steel wheelchair sits next to your bed

Quietly unused

I watched you breathing

I hold your hand

Skin translucent, blue veins visible

You/we are both sixty-five now

But your taut face records no wrinkles

Except when you smile or laugh

And I so remember your rich laugh

Slate blue eyes dancing

Still entrancing me

When we would walk into a room

I would disappear

Next to you I am invisible

All eyes riveting to your beauty

And they stay there

And I don’t mind at all

Because when I am with you

I am still one of them

Willingly captured

Sometimes you recognize me

Sometimes you smile slightly and murmur

Hi, Bob

And I think, she still remembers me

I kiss her soft lips

For the millionth time

She kisses me back

Romantic memory?

God, I hope so

Many times

She is angry

Her plain bed a prison

Love/Hate morphine

Deluding her

The radiation pain

Stabbing her

And all I can do is hold her hand

I sigh in resignation

Prayer is for the witness

I imagine a Heaven overwhelmed

Endless lines stretching to infinity

Anonymously pleading for mercy

I think love

May be my willingness

To be in her Hell of pain

With her

So she won’t have to be alone

But then I think

Imagination and drama aside

Maybe love is actually

Sitting quietly in her silent room

On Valentines Day

Even if she doesn’t even know

That I’m still there

Our two old hearts

Still beating

Together

*******************************

The poem was inspired by a conversation with our son, David, or as the rest of the world knows him: Konee Rok, on the same day I wrote it. He is an amazingly talented animated music video artist/producer: koneerok.com

I thank him for the idea and what it produced.

********************************

Publishing News! 

Bob Katzman’s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart and Vol. Two: Fighting Words

Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history and about one man’s life than a person may imagine.

Please visit my new website: https://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.

Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:

Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.

Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998 (262)752-3333, 8AM–7PM

Books cost $24.95 each, plus shipping

For: (1)$3.95; (2)$5.95; (3)$7.95; (4)$8.95 (5)$9.95;(6) $10.95

(7) $11.95; (8) $12.95; (9)$13.95 (10)$15.95 (15)$19.95

I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.

My Fighting Words Publishing Co. four original books, published between 2004 and 2007 are now out-of-print. I still have some left and will periodically offer them for sale on my new website.

 Twitter handle: bob_katzman

12 Comments »

Comment by bruce

February 11, 2016 @ 1:03 pm

beautiful

Comment by Charlie Newman

February 11, 2016 @ 5:44 pm

an absolute beaut, Bob!

Comment by David Griesemer

February 12, 2016 @ 4:34 am

A masterpiece. How does Hell produce such glorious art? Your poetry is somehow getting even better.
You and Joy – a love for the ages.

Comment by Bob

February 12, 2016 @ 12:22 pm

David, it is already revised. But thank you. I want to live up to your expectations.
Bob

Comment by Bob

February 12, 2016 @ 12:24 pm

B, thank God for your sister, Rana. Without her I’d be falling asleep at the wheel in my endless cycle between Joyce and Wisconsin.
B

Comment by Brad Dechter

February 13, 2016 @ 4:13 am

Heartfelt and tearful. Thanks Bob. You touched my heart.
With Love,
Brad

Comment by Anna McGuire

February 13, 2016 @ 9:29 am

It is a very beautiful poem and certainly connects with all of us.

Comment by anna kong

March 10, 2016 @ 11:32 am

As always your writings are so touching they stay forever in my heart and mind.

Thanks for sharing.

Comment by Neal Horwitz

April 2, 2016 @ 7:15 pm

Sero Sed Serio, Bob.
Not sure how to smoothly catch up after so long, but my thoughts are with you, Joyce and the family. Your writing has clearly become a tonic-and I can hear your voice clear as a bell. Love to all, and will wait for your next instalment
Neal

Comment by Tiara Crouse

January 15, 2018 @ 7:21 pm

This is so beautiful. Thank you for helping us remember who the ones we love help us become.

Comment by Cindy Travis

February 2, 2018 @ 1:56 pm

I think I am in love. Beautiful.

Comment by Jim Payne

February 13, 2018 @ 3:32 pm

Sweet!

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