Liam

( a Rensaku = linked Tanka )



I was in the dark
when I got the news my friend
no lights were left on—

the last of the summer heat
was turning me into ash

▫️

as my blistered thoughts
try to make sense of it all—
am I still breathing

why am I and you are not,
your queens-in-training weep

▫️

we talked on that day,
you told me you’d be leaving
you were unhappy

trying to be a writer
as good as me you had said

▫️

I offered to help,
I knew you’d been struggling
and said please don’t go,

but it never dawned on me
as you politely listened

▫️