Consider This A Restraining Order by Michael L. Newell

I wrote you out of my poems years ago

            no mas   no more  you were flung to the side

                        of one of memory’s long-neglected back roads

So why the hell are you sitting in the living room

            reading Willa Cather and listening to some

                        long forgotten punk band scream its guts out

Go back to New York and its bloated streets

            where the buildings spill out people like one

                        of those never emptied circus clown cars

I prefer my ghosts to be quieter sadder perhaps

            the images more like dust motes in a sudden

                        shaft of late afternoon sunlight

My memories should be more impressionist

            (less hard-edged tactile demanding of attention)

                        the sounds and words supplied by me

 The hint of flowers in your perfume is a nice touch

            but the music is too loud the expression you wear

                        is too sad I don’t want to pick you up

  And steal into the nearest bedroom too many arguments there

            c’mon the wind is rising outside you can

                        ride it back to where you belong

While I try to pack up the debris

            you always leave behind and store it 

                        in one of memory’s out of the way suitcases

Michael L. Newell is widely published.  He is a retired English/Theatre teacher.  He has received three Pushcart Nominations.