Duet for Singles
for Man and Female
_________________________________________
M You could of said hello
F Why?
Goodbye’s a word too.
If I ever gave hello to you,
I’d know how to say goodbye
M If I meant enough for your anger-
F You represented.
I no longer let you
M You feel nothing
Like seeing a former student
Past is past
F You said it.
You never brought me to desire.
To your desires, yes. You loved me. I never you.
I told you
M I still-
F Still. And gone.
Love is not magic when I can force it out.
You’re gone. You never existed for me.
M You never called, bleeding in the night
F I’m a revisionist, then
And I just revised you out
of my life history.
M Who do you call now
when you have needs
when you can’t be alone
who sits by your fire
F Noone.
I don’t and I don’t.
M All your nights are spent softly. The curtain does not change,the past does not be come, you have not the rivers that wash onto your kitchen floor, nip and bite
F It was as you said. I tested you. I called, you came and, by so doing, failed. You never marked me; by wearing my marks, your marks are mi nus. I have no time for weak men-
M Or those who love you more than you mark yourself
If I’d treated you like fresh scum-
F You could not of. Can not, now, I imagine. Not that I
ever cared. What you? Can’t you find another seat at this bar? You crowd me so.
M You know my number. And soul. And all that.
I’m like Stonehenge. Been here forever and not going
no where.
F Be then a ruin
Be concrete
and a lone
M I can find others
F Why haven’t you?
M Can’t ain’t will
original 12-17-82 revised 12-23-82
revised yet again, minimally, on 1-30-21
Some things take their own natural time
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About bobsmall1
Bob Small has read at Bacchanal, Barnes and Noble, Borders,
The Booksource (Swarthmore), The Clark Park Festivals,Community College of Philadelphia
Highwire Gallery, The Mad Poets Annual Food Fest Reading,
The Middle East Restaurant, Nexus GalleryThe Painted Bride Arts Center,
The Philadelphia Ethical Society, Robin's Bookstore
The University of Pennsylvania and also in New York City,
Trenton, NJ, Washington, DC, and in many Delaware Valley Venues.
He is the author of numerous chapbooks, including
El Otro Lado (with Maralyn Lois Polak), On watching America Die,
Small Steps and Toes (with Lamont B. Steptoe), and The Unapoet.
This is his first Reading in over a year.
Bob Small was Founder and President of the
two decades old Poets and Prophets,
which presented Poetry Readings
in both Delaware County and Philadelphia.
Bob was the Chair of The Delaware County Green Party and was the
First Green Party Candidate in Delaware County (2005).
He was also a Green Party National Delegate, among other duties.
He is the Founder and Facilitator of
The Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition (PaBac),
which is a Coalition of both Independents and Third Parties.,
seeking to legislatively improve Pennsylvania's Ballot Access Laws. (Facebook)
Bob is also a founding member and
Facilitator of Democracy Unplugged, and Delco Debates,
which has presented Independent and Third Party Forums in Delaware County since 2004. Facebook)
He was formerly involved with Cinema Resistance, and Delco Pledge of Resistance.
Bob currently lives in Swarthmore with his wife
and their menagerie of animals.
He is currently focused on writing a Novel and organizing his Poetry, which he posts on his Blog (Bob Small1). He is retired from most of the above activities, except Delco Debates and Poets and Prophets, which he may return to.
robertthesmall 