I'll keep writing just to bring you back.

Oblivious boy, continue to ignore me.
Do I write less than when you are before me?

I'll keep writing just to bring you back.
How could I work if I weren't faced with lack?

Friends and advisors who are keeping score,
My book's not finished yet, and we are still at war.

Whether I write from Washington or Rome,
My homework is disheveled, and my home.

The cities are too heavy, poems too light.
I'll write about the tree frogs at night

Whose legions thrill and trill when dusk comes on.
Anonymous neighbors. Singing on and on.

[Jennifer Clarvoe, 'Unfinished Business' from Counter-Amores]