Leveling
I look for cracks in the house of love,
wait for the roof to collapse, reveal the rot above.
The ceiling which looked so far removed
now presses on the chest of love.
The cobwebbed windows grow cataracts
which once reflected a clarity of love.
At best, we shore each other up,
ignore the stains which weep, failed love,
from under built-up paint; we strip,
create a new blueprint, renovate
fit tongue and groove, speculate
on the charity of love.
*
Betsy Mars is a prize-winning poet, a photographer, and publishes an occasional anthology through Kingly Street Press. She is an assistant editor at Gyroscope Review. Poetry publications include Rise Up Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, New Verse News, Sky Island, and Minyan. She is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee. Betsy’s photos have been featured in RATTLE’s Ekphrastic Challenge, Spank the Carp, Praxis, and Redheaded Stepchild. She is the author of Alinea and co-author of In the Muddle of the Night with Alan Walowitz.
