An Opera of Silence

How can I forget my madness if I’m mad
How can I erase the daughters crying
in nighttime summer rain
after their fathers and uncles and lovers and brothers
are gunned down by five-o for hustling
8-balls beneath the El
to rich white bored boys from Scarsdale

How can I forget my madness if I’m mad
How can I erase Donna’s memory
so she’ll forget I smashed a beer bottle
through the picture plate window at Paradise Inn
pushed her too hard into the long grass
behind the Viking Boat Yard
held her tight to my chest as she shook
with sobs soft like river fog

How can I forget my madness if I’m mad
How can I erase words that scream
out they are poems
when the best verses hide
behind veiled remorse of fear and failure
at 183 rd and Tremont
the Hudson River
and alone in my room

How can I forget

William Teets is a writer born in Peekskill, New York, who has recently relocated to Southeast Michigan. He misses New York pizza, the Hudson River, and Fran, Remember the Good Times ‘68.  A collection of his poetry, After the Fall, was published by Cajun Mutt Press in February 2023.