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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LOVE POEM FOR AN ENEMY, by RICHARD KATROVAS Poet's Biography
First Line: I, as sinned against as sinning, / take small pleasure from the winning
Subject(s): Enemies
First Line: I, as sinned against as sinning, / take small pleasure from the winning
Subject(s): Enemies
I, as sinned against as sinning,
take small pleasure from the winning
of our decades-long guerrilla war.
For from my job I've wanted more
than victory over one who'd tried
to punish me before he died,
and now, neither of us dead,
we haunt these halls in constant dread
of drifting past the other's life
while long-term memory is rife
with slights that sting like paper cuts.
We've occupied our separate ruts
yet simmered in a single rage.
We've grown absurd in middle age
together, and should seek wisdom now
together, by ending this row.
I therefore decommission you
as constant flagship of my rue.
Below the threshold of my hate
you now my good regard may rate.
For I have let my anger pass.
But, while you're down there, kiss my ass.
Copyright 2001 by The Modern Poetry Association.
This poem appears in the April 2001 issue of Poetry Magazine.
http://poetrymagazine.org
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