You Whom I Hoped to Reach by Writing

You whom I hoped to reach by writing,

you beyond the multicolored tangle

of telephone wires,

you with your white paper soul

trampled in transit,

you with kaleidoscope stamps

& black cancellations,

you who put your finger on my heart as I slept,

you whom I jostle in elevators,

you whom I stare at in subways,

you shopping for love in department stores. . .



I write to you

& someone else answers:

the man who hates his wife

& wants to meet me,

the girl who mistakes me for mother. . .

My strange vocation

is to be paid for my nightmares.



I write to you, my love,

& someone else

always answers.