Tom Obrzut

 Grief poem 2

I dreamed about you last night
We argued about antique stores on a highway
I never gave a fuck about antiques
Neither did you
I miss you I guess
Some of my old friends still call
Mostly I’m by myself
Even with Milo and Liam
I’m alone
It’s not the same anymore
By myself I’m no good
There’s no one out there
It’s okay
One day I’ll be dead too
We still won’t be together

Grief poem 3

People try to be helpful
They want me to get my shit together
I don’t tell them
It’s more than 50 years with no success
At night I go home
Get on my phone
And I counsel others
I say over and over
“It’s going to get better”
I’m a stone faced liar.

Grief Poem 5

Am I the same person?
I know I’m not the same one from years ago
But certain patterns keep happening
I don’t feel lost
I’m bored
I’m anxious
I’m doomed
I haven’t even used all your xanax
The oxycodone either
Sometimes I think about tomorrow
It’s a grey landscape
Everything stays the same
I’m worried in the same way I always am
Exhausted I pour myself a vodka seltzer
A red sun ball illuminates the sky
And lights up the grey
So it turns purple
“That’s her color,” I say
Take any other
But that belongs to her.

Tom Obrzut has been writing poetry for many years. He is an editor and founder of Arbella Magazine. He has organized poetry series in New Jersey and New York dating back to the 1980s. Tom is currently a host at Poets Wednesday at Barron Arts Center, Woodbridge, NJ, the longest running poetry reading in the US. Tom has been published in Lummox Magazine, Alien Buddha, Brooklyn Rail, Big Hammer, and a variety of other publications. His poetry collection Street Poems, published by Iniquity Press, is available through Amazon. Tom works as a psychiatric social worker.