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All I Need to Know
You kissed me and I watched you walk away.
Well, no, that isn’t true. I meant to watch,
but found that I’d got something in my eye
and had to blink it out, and then you’d gone.
I never saw which way you went, or if
you cast a backwards glance. I didn’t see
how straight your shoulders were, whether you strode
with purpose or reluctance, fast or slow,
shuffling, hands in pockets, eyes cast down,
or light of step, arms swinging carelessly
as though the world had settled back in place.
After, I wished I’d watched you out of sight
or even run behind you, called your name
so I could picture you without this blur,
but all I can recall of saying goodbye
is mumbled words "I love you" and "take care"
and that quick kiss before you walked away.
When I could see I gathered up my purse
and slipped into the loo to fix my face.
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[center]<table bgcolor=white cellpadding=25 border=0><tr><td>This poem is a good lesson in the importance of what is omitted. We're not told why this parting is taking place, whether there is to be a reunion, or when--if ever--or even how the person who departed feels about the parting or the speaker. We're told that certain words were "mumbled," but not by whom, and don't learn until the very end that this is a woman speaking. And somehow the omissions, far from creating confusion, add to the drama and make the situation more emotionally compelling.
The opening line--denied immediately in line 2--drew me into the poem right away, incurable romantic that I am, and so did the details not seen from line 6 -11, with their vain search for the emotional content that may have been present, and the final simple female gesture that also sets the event somewhere in the old British empire, with that "loo." The blank verse is beautifully handled, and the diction is deceptively simple. I'm hunting for nits, but not finding any.
The title feels like a bow to Keats, but I'm not finding the Keats connection in the poem itself.
~Rhina
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