See
I will see you soon.
When will I see you?
I haven’t seen you
since before the last storm,
city a hazy blaze
of glimmering stone.
I’m alone with my books &
scent of fried beef, &
I do not see you
in any paragraph
from the previous page
or taste your bread
on my breath.
I see the truth of it:
we are seen & unseen,
going through life
holding tiny candles &
maps to homes of the stars.
Did you see anyone you know?
I did; it wasn’t you,
a problem to be solved for X.
I’ll see what I can do.
Ace Boggess is author of six books of poetry, most recently Escape Envy (Brick Road, 2021). His writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Indiana Review, Harvard Review, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, West Virginia, where he writes and tries to stay out of trouble.