Here: Archive of past poems, essays, and excerpts
Your memory gives me life,
not your death, my enemy.
Blind to what I never knew about you
I tell myself:
“Don’t forget you,”
So your life never ends
and commit to convincing the face in the mirror
to never forget the thirst
you quenched.
I love you my enemy
and wash your face
every morning,
Face blind,
I see a new one
each dawn.
Wear the orange checked shirt, please, so
I know it’s you.
and don’t hurt the wrong foe,
or silence the right one,
through my tears.
Self-portrait, Chuck Close, 2004-5 (oil on canvas)
©Philippe du Col, 2025