apologize


What Do We Say and then What Shall We Do

I crashed my airplane
Through your roof
Near
But not on
But near enough
To the place where you reclined
Holding a sketch pad
And I could even see the thing
With which
You drew

I apologized
For crashing through your roof
And through the ceiling
In the room

You demurred
Citing lack of inspiration to draw
Anything
That moment
In fact
For the hour
Or that day
So far
At least

And I said
Strange
I had my notebook and my
Pencil with me
Though sometimes it is a pen
And I
Was stuck
Coming up with something
Of substance
You know
To set down

How strange
She replied
That we should both be at a point
So to say
Where nothing was forthcoming
You for words
And me for an illustration

Still
I’m supposing that is not
Why you crashed
Into my house

Indeed
No
I responded
I crashed because
I’m simply
Not really good
At flying

Ah
She said

And I got out
And we had tea
With all the authorities
Whom
Arrived

And so we had our stories
Words
And pictures
Even
A collaboration of long-standing
Over years
In fact
After I paid for
The construction of her house
That is

It’s easy
Isn’t it
To crash into something
Do some damage
After which
We should apologize
Then fix
What we have fallen into

One person
State
Or nation

C L Couch

Inspired by What Do You Say, Dear? by Joslin Sesyle, Maurice Sendak


Photo by Martin Robles on Unsplash