After that,
there isn’t any limit.
After while
though, the law will haul you in,
tell you
You too have seen enough of sorry,
enough to tears.
You stand caught with the goods,
convicted
of breaking and entering your own home.
Lovers
will, turn the moon back and blue,
cover
up their crimes. You go back to the scene
plotting
ways the crimes would have been perfect,
After that,
you give up and cry out
with Job
that it is too late for mercy.
--
Paul Dickey has appeared recently in Plume, The Midwest Quarterly, Laurel Review, I-70 Review, Plainsongs, failbetter.com, and Apple Valley Review. His recent book of poetry volume was released in September, 2022 in Anti-Realism in Shadows and Suppertime. He has also released in the past year a volume of flash fiction by What My Characters Should Have Said and a poetry chapbook A Reading of Dali (Likely Misundersood) Which is Twenty Meters Becomes This Poet's Self - portrait.