Last Night I Dreamt I Was A DJ

1
I’ve tried to write a love poem
but the poems never say what we mean
or maybe they say exactly what we mean
and we just don’t know what we’re trying to say
 
2
if I say you I’m referring to you
but when I write you
I’m not referring to you anymore
but instead to a Platonic you
that has more to do with me
than with you
 
3
when Quevedo couldn’t manage to write
a love poem he’d get bent out of shape
and climb into the belfries of churches
and throw rocks at the people going to Mass
 
4
I’ve written love poems all my life
and I’ve failed
I’ve written hundreds of love poems most of all
when I didn’t have anybody to write them to
 
5
receptionists and masseuses
know my poems by heart
the old ladies I play bingo with
cry with their glasses on
remembering my poems
 
6
poets used to seduce girls
and immortalize them in their verses
but we’ve forgotten how many Claudias
how many Julietas how many Margaritas
how many Crisilandias
 
7
girls don’t believe in poems anymore
and if they go to bed with poets it’s because they’re old maids
or because psychoanalysts are expensive
and they go to bed with all the poets but me
tonight all the poets have hooked up
and have naked girls in their arms
while I’m writing alone in the middle
of this room
 
8
all love poems are unreal
the love poems the poet writes intentionally as unreal
are the most real of all
 
9
Lucian Blaga wrote that words
are the tears of those who wanted to cry
and couldn’t
and that’s all I’ve got to say