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Frances Koziar Poetry Collection

Frances Koziar Poetry Collection

– Poetry by Frances Koziar –

The Other Side

Love is never simple
            to walk away from
just as you were never easy
to love—forged, as you were,
            in some long-lost war, honed
            to indiscriminately destroy
anyone who got too close—but I
            did both, voice choked
with caution, anxiety churning
            in my gut, and as I went
my love for you shuddered

behind me like a waterfall
            parting: for one moment
I glimpsed you
            beneath the lies and the masks
            and the violence
and I saw
            the past, the other side, the in-
            between; I saw you,
my love, my darling,
and with each step away
            another scar traced its way
across my battered heart
            like the promises
you never learned
            how to keep.

Reaching Out

If you asked me
why I kept thinking of your voice
on the phone, it would be difficult
to tell you: you said nothing
that I could say was proof
of your gentleness, how you are teaching me
that loving is something that a person
can be, no. Your voice
was ordinary, we spoke
of nothing, and yet you drew laughter
from lips too jaded
to speak, a spark
from eyes more used
to staring listlessly
at the ruins of my life. All
you did was talk to me, reach out
inadvertently like some rainbow
spanning the sky, and all I could do
was take your hand in mine and wonder
that this storm could have something beautiful
inside of it.


About the Author – Frances Koziar
Frances Koziar

FRANCES KOZIAR has published poetry in over 35 different literary magazines, including Vallum and Acta Victoriana. She is a young (disabled) retiree and a social justice advocate, and she lives in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Author website: https://franceskoziar.wixsite.com/author 


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