If I wrote
what I was thinking
Rose
I’d get in a heap of trouble.

So I am keeping
a secret repository of poems
that I do not want your boyfriend to see
while he’s out of town.
I could hide them from his feed
but not from friends
who would be quick to rat us out
at the earliest opportunity.
They are bastards
and must be stopped
however possible.

The easiest way of stopping,
Rose,
is to keep my mouth shut
or my pen sheathed
or my printer off
or my browser shut

The poems I write
about we two
will not be published
until we’re willing to go public
and Eric is ready to hear
everything what’s gone on.

We’re not there yet
and Eric’s not back anyway
So nobody needs to know
until we’re ready, Rose.
No one has to read a thing
because I can keep quiet
– and the files untouched –
indefinitely.