Forgive (poem)

Forgive

say it’s a secret

parching for a seat, a spot

to fall into a lady faint

Why’s it all so fraught?

Squinting at how funhouse the two of you appear

and wouldn’t it be best to dart inside this shop

pull disguises from the racks

So who was that girl you tailed inside?

Pause there, backdropped by a mod jazz look

of dresses, floral gauzes, button-fronts

worn open to the waist over jeans

strong caping skirts that catch the wind

now she is on the runway, making for the exit

now taxiing

now deciding

if the thing of the 70s coming back

is the floppy hat

now she unlocks the door

don’t be so frantic

I’ll stand here

The neighbor says

Get your stuff

Only from her new Mount Olympus

Can she receive

Importunities from below the clouds

In the inscrutable way of gods

She forgives all

Closed

(Stephanie Foster, 2024)