Poetry Performed Episode 028 - In(Re)trospect by Erik Shinker

This week, a first for Poetry Performed - a poem from a living poet - In(Re)trospect by Minneapolis’ own Erik Shinker.

In(Re)trospect by Erik Shinker

The beads of summer

sweat coated your upper lip;

a foil to the chilly

distance of

my heart’s malcontent.

Cheeks would blush.

Flushed.

Your hair, a

curtain of auburn mimicry,

brushed my brow with

each lustful kiss.

Pressure enough to

freeze time.

We marched through

our passion, always

just out of

step.

I wanted what was best; you wanted

me.

Burns and scars forced

me to pave the road to hell.

You never wanted to

hurt me,

just yourself.

How many have I pined after

in your wake?

How few reciprocated? How

could I replace what was

lost?

But a relationship cannot be

built on lies and

no matter how much I wanted you,

it just wasn’t

meant

to be.

I hardened my heart

in the hope of

saving yours.

I left you crying

amid the laughter of children

on that summer day.

Such promise; such potential

gone

because of my best intentions.

So many false starts, swearing oaths

I couldn’t help but

Break.

I wanted you to get

better;

and you did (I think).

You met shortly after our split.

A decade later and

you’ve been together

through it all.

For what seemed an age,

I watched from afar and remembered

who we used to be.

Ten years on and we’re different people.

A gold band now tips the scale of your left hand

while the pair of mine remain

Balanced.

It seems a

lifetime ago.

It might as well have been.

And the worst part is

I couldn’t

care

less.

Erik Shinker is a Minnesota based poet, and is the first living poet we have featured here on Poetry Performed. He holds a BA in English with an Emphasis on Literature and Creative Writing from Minnesota State University - Mankato. His work has been featured in both Minnesota’s Emerging Writers and America’s Emerging Writers. When not writing poetry or blogging about books, film, music, and more, he works as a manufacturing technical writer at a medical device company.

Erik Shinker’s work can be found at perpetuallypastdue.com. This poem was used with permission.

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Theme music provided by David Hilowitz.