GENTLE MAN, THE

So Much Like Marie

31 So Much Like Marie So much like Marie— That’s how I saw you: Slender fingers on hips, Waiting for the crosstown bus Which never arrived to claim you On the first day of winter, When I thought, surely, I must have lost my mind. And there you stood, Portrait of a girl Caught in confusion’s midst; How were you to learn— How could you possibly tell— That what I chanced upon Kept the cold lie alive Another season. Soon, I followed you down A strangely familiar block Where we set up house On a lot so vacant, It had no address And mail failed to find us. I don’t remember the moment You began to resemble yourself And slowly grow into the woman I refused night after night; I think I loved you best When you were anyone, A prism in my hands— So much like Marie. ...