Love Song for Love Songs
by Rafael Campo
(published on the Academy of American Poets website)
A golden age of love songs and we still
can't get it right. Does your kiss really taste
like butter cream? To me, the moon's bright face
was neither like a pizza pie nor full;
the Beguine began, but my eyelid twitched.
"No more I love you's," someone else assured
us, pouring out her heart, in love (of course)—
what bothers me the most is that high-pitched,
undone whine of "Why am I so alone?"
Such rueful misery is closer to
the truth, but once you turn the lamp down low
,you must admit that he is still the one,
and baby, baby he makes you so dumb
you sing in the shower at the top of your lungs.
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