A Poem by Richard Vetere

WHEN WE FIRST MET

Richard Vetere

When we first met,

I wanted to give you my eyes, my teeth, my hands.

I asked you to wear my fingers and learn my voice

and memorize how my lips were shaped when silent.

So, you wore my eyes and my hands

and you found some reason to memorize my lips

and learn what my voice sounded like without

my fingers and my teeth.

But when you left

You never gave any of it back.

I hear you still wear my fingers and my eyes

my teeth and my hands.

Are you a cannibal, or is there something religious

going on here?

Richard will appear at The Gazebo on 6/22.