Robert West
~
Regret
A turn unlost
a phrase unturned
a line uncrossed
a bridge unburned
a bed unmade
a bell unrung
a price unpaid
a curse unflung
a point unpressed
a vow unbroken
a shame unguessed
a name unspoken
a match unwon
a rift unriven
so much undone
and unforgiven.
~
On a Collected Poems
You close the book convinced
the one real happiness she had
was making all those marvels
out of so much feeling sad.
~
What She Said
Boy you’d
better
look both
ways
before you
cross
the street
and
think twice
before
you cross
me.
~
Robert West grew up in Henderson County in western North Carolina, and now lives in Starkville, Mississippi; he teaches in the Department of English at Mississippi State University. His poems have appeared in Southern Poetry Review, Christian Science Monitor, Poetry, Asheville Poetry Review, Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry, and elsewhere; his poetry chapbook Convalescent was published by Finishing Line Press. With Jonathan Greene he is co-editor of Succinct: The Broadstone Anthology of Short Poems (Broadstone Books, 2013). Robert's work has also previously appeared in Still: The Journal.