All Over but the Shouting
—a poem by M.E. Lerman

The fridge groans and hisses at us
Like it’s watching a bad comedy act.
“I never cheated on you” I put the lukewarm tr
uth
  —as if it mattered—
  into the ceramic embrace of a mall-kiosk coffee mug.
Once a broken record, now you silently spin on the turntable
And I’m too far away to caress any of your grooves
  read any of your moods
     The song is gone.

You gaze into the sink and the celestial network of twists and turns
  —the real meaning of pipe dream—
    Of destiny and wastewater
    and unseen empires of constellations
I was once a vault of stars
                                        to you.

We are a stale-popcorn opera,
  All over but the shouting,
    And for the fridge, it can’t end fast enough.



___
Editor by day and writer by earlier in the day, M. E. Lerman has been published in Poetica Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, and Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, and his work has been featured in the British Fantasy Society Journal. Also a multi-instrumentalist and amateur recording artist under the name Mike L. Rock, he lives in Rockville, MD, with his partner, Donovan, and their cat, Sa$ha. His blog can be found at thenewgodofhellfire.wordpress.com.