Late Love
Now’s our chance to start over. We’re careful
not to shock each other with facts about
ourselves that break the image. And better
that you have your say in what I become
and I discover who you are beyond
what you’ve believed about yourself. We’re wrong
to take people at their word when they talk
about us. Parents, friends, and lovers tell
stories with an ending, needing to know
what everything means. I raise my glass to
the unknown. What I remember I’ll tell
like a child who doesn’t know how things go.
Joseph Chaney is the publisher of Wolfson Press. He teaches writing and literature at Indiana University South Bend. His work has appeared in many journals, including The Nation, Beloit Poetry Journal, Prairie Schooner, Dogwood, Spillway, and Stoneboat. A few recent short poems can be read online from The Apple Valley Review and Roanoke Review.