The Friday Poem: ‘They called it love’ by Michael Gould
New verse by Canadian New Zealand writer Michael Gould.
They called it love
I saw the man I thought I loved
three times in two days, but
after that we didn’t have much to say
we kissed, though our eyes didn’t meet
and smiled, but a sense of denial
was already spelling defeat.
Was that kiss a kiss-off?
Was there a wrong move at the wrong time, or
was he ultimately never meant to be mine?
Several weeks later I saw the man I thought I loved
again – man, one-night stands are a pain –
and while his slap-happy smile seemed to slip
from his face, then hang in space
I passed by.
Michael Gould, 2017
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Michael Gould
Michael Gould is a Wellington writer. His poetry has appeared in Phantom Billstickers Café Reader, Snorkel and Landfall. He is also the author of a remarkable book on film, Surrealism and the Cinema: Open-eyed Screening (1976). Michael was born in Toronto in 1950.
