Linda Landreth
Ambivalent One
You are my enemy.
Each time I reach for you,
You slip, tumble, from my warm grasp.
A deliberate ploy to keep away from me.
You know I need you.
I can’t do without you.
We are attracted and repelled by each other.
Conflicted. I try again.
Reach, hold tighter, don’t let go.
Then, we are united.
My struggle ends.
We are enmeshed.
A necessity of my life.
Your work just begins.
Your angled arms with crooked ending
Now holds my pressed shirt.