Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
Look at this desk:
I could’ve been the paper. You, the paperweight.
Pin me down.
I could’ve been this sturdy shelf. You, the books.
Held you up, when you slid.
Or maybe that one bookend of your to-be-reads.
Lean on me slanted like so many fallen dominos.
All these unfinished novels. The one story
you were so invested in that left you hanging.
The sequel you found wanting. The fiction of this life.
The weight of the unread world.
Follow the trail of unreadable cues.This abandoned journal.
The hobby that turned into a chore.
These gel pens that dried up. The fading colours
of all these precious memories.
Of you. The stationery we left stationary.
Frozen in time like the burn that turned into ashes
in my mouth the minute it was spoken.
And regretted.
All the words left unsaid after. Like dust
that now finds its way into every crevice
of this heart.
The poem that crawled into its own nook,
and never got sent. Folded and tucked
in the unreturned book.
Like a patient bookmark
caught between two pages:
Forgive and forget.
Both overdue.
First published in Lit Shark Magazine, Europe.
