#j.j. starr

[thecommonmag]

Four Poems by J.J. Starr

I see a woman  

who looks like you and it makes me stop. You’re not even dead                           yet but sometimes it feels that way.

I’m sad about it, I am. It’s not something I put on my wish list.

I want to disappear when I see a man                           with the right kind of mustache.

I know you know what I mean, the things that pull us back

—back again to the rooms and the smell of them.

You’re so far away from me. I don’t just mean I haven’t seen you. Why shouldn’t we have formed a family without you? Don’t                           we all need one?