Richard Hoffman

A D L

Aphrodisia

Love’s language is hyperbole, but whispered,
sibilant similes and promises sotto voce.
It’s easy to imagine you've misheard,

the form and content clash, create this weird
distortion like an echo or a tape delay.
Love’s language is hyperbole, but whispered.

On which do you place emphasis: The words?
Or the breath? The farfetched or the foreplay?
It’s easy to imagine you've misheard

when objectivity has disappeared
and your lover is getting further carried away.
Love’s language is hyperbole, but whispered

Long Enough

You would have thought it foolish to speak to the dead,

but I have lived two decades longer now than you

and all this time I have carried you in my head

so I think I have the right to question what you said,

dear teacher. My religious upbringing’s residue,

you would have thought it foolish. To speak to the dead,

however, is sometimes necessary, especially haunted

by all the things I know you hoped I’d do

with all this time that I have carried you in my head.

In a dream last night I followed where you led