no friendly ghosts

you can't
make friends
with ghosts
not with
dead soldiers
or with
old boyfriends
its like
making
your
bed neatly
inside of
your nightmares
no use
pretending
there will
not be
sweaty sheets
wrapped around
you as
you shake
and scream
its all
a lie
like a
break up
without tears
or secrets
you give
away like
loose change
you will
learn this
over years
and first
dates bad
grades
and heart
break like
a hurricane
or car crash
no one
escapes it
and they
don't call
it the
blues for
nothing

on nights
the memories
are screaming
so loud
you can't
think or
sleep the
only thing
you can
count on
is the
long knife
of determination
you will
have to
use to
scrape the
battle fields
of your
life or
the fire
you will
use to
scorch the field
and the
grace of
patience you
will need
as you
wait to
see what
will eventually
grow.

 

 

Matthew Borczon

Matthew Borczon is a poet and retired Navy sailor who has written 17 books of poetry so far. His latest, PTSD a living Will, is available through Rust Belt Press. When not writing Matt is a nurse at a plasma donation center.

 

Edited for Unlikely by Jonathan Penton, Editor-in-Chief
Last revised on Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - 22:56