It’s the last day of April, the last day of National Poetry Writing Month, and the final prompt is to write a poem in the form of a series of directions describing how a person should get to a particular place.

come back to me

I know you’re angry
but please put your anger aside 
and remember what we’ve had together
and can still have

would it help to know that I’m very sorry
I was wrong
I shouldn’t have done it
shouldn’t have said it
wouldn’t have
except I was hurt

I wish I could erase the pain I caused you
but when I thought you stopped loving me
I wanted to hurt you too

I was mistaken
but what was I to think
you became so distant
you didn’t talk to me
barely looked at me

I didn’t know what was bothering you
why didn’t you tell me
I wouldn’t have though less of you
I would have shared your struggles
less of a burden when carried by two
but you didn’t give me a chance

so I told you to get out
that I didn’t love you any more

and you left without a word

I had to hear from someone else
that you lost your job
like so many others during this terrible time
we could have made it through
would have made it through together
still can

so please
forgive me
call me
come home
fly home
drive home
hitchhike home
run home
walk home 
or call me
I’ll come get you
just come
let me love you again

©ARHuelsenbeck 2021

My grand total for April 2021 is twenty-seven poems. That’s what I like about challenges–they motivate me. That’s not to say that all the poems are great–they’re not. I do like the one above. It might be my favorite of the month. Another one I especially like is The Wedding Cake Knife. My most “liked” poems this month were the one I wrote about my daughter Erin, and Watching the children play in every season, which surprised me, because I considered that a throwaway poem; it felt so uninspired to me. You never know what will touch another human being. Let that be a lesson to me.