Let’s Become a Ghost Story

Let’s scare each other –– it’s what lovers do.

We owe each other that much.

So why not, we’ve done worse.

Together we’re under construction.

This has nothing to do with hammers and nails

any part of our bodies can be a soldering iron.

Separate we’re the punchline to each other’s joke.

The other night I saw a woman run naked

from a house across the street.

I wanted her to be you … fearless

warm flesh steaming, glowing in a cold mist.

You can be suffering and I can be sugar

or you can be sugar and I’ll be suffering. It’s up to you.

The more we collaborate the more frightening we can be.

Let’s practice naked under the whitest sheets.

Let’s take turns pretending to be the wind,

slip out through an open window. Let’s steal things.

You steal the daffodils from the graveyard.

I’ll steal the plastic rabbit from the neighbor’s yard

and finally be good at something –– that’s the scary part.

Are you frightened yet … it’s an emotion

that must be constantly relearned

like biting your tongue or mine.

“Let’s Become a Ghost Story,” BOA Editions, 2020

Cultural Weekly, www.culturalweekly.com/rick-bursky-three-poems/ July 25, 2017