Adam Grabowski

‘Write a poem about infidelity, but make it positive’

for Eden

Not every promise has that much promise to it.
It's not for lack of holding but rather
my lingering need for touch. You understand

just enough for me to come home to.
There’s love known. There’s the love we’re taught
and then there’s the love of discovery. A new body,

new language to learn, to teach. I’ve lain,
and I’ve been laid down, in forests and forethought
and the all-of-a-sudden electric. This desire,

to put my shoulder to the wheel, to see my knees
pushed back against my chest,
you understand. You’re the one who taught me, first.

Adam Grabowski is author of the chapbook Go on Bewilderment (Attack Bear Press, 2020) and his poems have recently appeared in such journals as New Ohio Review, Sixth Finch, and Ninth Letter, among others. He lives in Western Massachusetts where he is the associate managing editor for The Maine Review.