Academy of American Poets
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Love

After Duras
"We go back to our house. We are lovers. 
We cannot stop loving each other."

I come to confiscate your love. 
What will you do?

Small shrubs grow in the blackened yard.
Sun, which is yellow, shines in through the windows, now barred.

You were watching me eat. 
Put your tongue in my mouth then retract it.

We were waiting for our recompense.
But everyone knows love is bankrupt.

On the billboard in front of us: breasts.
The empty middles of the mannequins that peered out through the glass. 

Reprehensibly, I mouthed the words: I love you.
Credit: 

Copyright © 2011 by Katy Lederer. Used with permission of the author.

Author: 

Katy Lederer

Katy Lederer is the author of the poetry collections The Heaven-Sent Leaf (Crown Publishing, 2008) and Winter Sex (Wave Books, 2004).

  • Read more about Katy Lederer
Date Published: 
2011

Source URL: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/love-1