Diminished

If she comes back from Disneyland,

I want to tell her that desire

is ninety percent of the crime;

that we’re both guilty

of not staying madly in love

with each other.

It’s not too late to read old love letters.

How the heart swells to the size of the sorrow.

That you can bleed or burn or fall

when you wish upon the wrong star.

Born and raised in Scranton, PA (The Office), K. A. McGowan lives in Cajunland in Louisiana. He writes poems and songs and plays the guitar left-handed. His two chapbooks are Rubric and No Passengers.

Why does poetry matter? Because many poems–like black balloons and some perfumes–smell like survival.