“Oh Don't,” she said. “It's cold.”
by Doug Holder
"I'm depressed
I'm old."
I held her hand
"Oh don't," she said.
"It's cold."
She said,
"Maybe I pushed too much
Maybe I gave in much too soon,
Perhaps it was something
I needed to be told."
I held her hand,
"Oh, don't," she said.
"It's cold."
I said,
"But we love you
what was once bought
has now been long sold."
I held her hand,
"Oh don't ," she said.
"It's cold."
She said:
"What should I have seen?"
What was I meant to be?
What would have pleasured me?"
I held her hand:
"Too bad" she said.
It's warm now
but oh so old."
Her hand
gently
broke from me
and like spotted moths
fluttered free.
Doug Holder is the founder of the Ibbetson Street Press. He teaches writing at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. and Bunker Hill Community College in Boston. His poetry and prose have appeared in The Boston Globe, Blue Fifth Review, Caesura, spoKe, and many other magazines. He has led poetry groups for psychiatric patients at McLean Hospital in Belmont for the past 30 years.
by Doug Holder
"I'm depressed
I'm old."
I held her hand
"Oh don't," she said.
"It's cold."
She said,
"Maybe I pushed too much
Maybe I gave in much too soon,
Perhaps it was something
I needed to be told."
I held her hand,
"Oh, don't," she said.
"It's cold."
I said,
"But we love you
what was once bought
has now been long sold."
I held her hand,
"Oh don't ," she said.
"It's cold."
She said:
"What should I have seen?"
What was I meant to be?
What would have pleasured me?"
I held her hand:
"Too bad" she said.
It's warm now
but oh so old."
Her hand
gently
broke from me
and like spotted moths
fluttered free.
Doug Holder is the founder of the Ibbetson Street Press. He teaches writing at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. and Bunker Hill Community College in Boston. His poetry and prose have appeared in The Boston Globe, Blue Fifth Review, Caesura, spoKe, and many other magazines. He has led poetry groups for psychiatric patients at McLean Hospital in Belmont for the past 30 years.