#0043 | when things cannot be

Submitted by P. in Florida.

Here’s P.’s story:

“There are times when friends stop and ask themselves if they could be lovers. For me, that was with my friend of the opposite sex, K.  K and I had been so very close; we’d shared many a late night talk.  after several years he expressed to me how he felt more or less.

Unfortunately for me, I was not able to see a romantic future for us.  Two writers would surely spend their lives fighting, I thought, though we’d never fought much at all.  I thought long about what a super-terrific person he is and what an opportunity I was passing up but for some reason I passed it up anyway.

I still love my friend K very much and think you can feel the bittersweet tone in my response to this poem from the time before I knew how he felt.  He is very idealistic, in certain ways, wishing to right the wrongs of the machine.  I just wish I could have loved him in that particular way at that particular time.  Can you send out my dedication to k for his care and deep understanding?

lines written over email at no exact time on a Tuesday

I am a semi-truck with arms and legs
I cannot be stopped
My will be forged upon this world
Fact by manufacture
- K

distill my heart, lemon flavored
i found your forged will
you left me the world
and this truckstop
- P”