Disfluency

After great pain, a formal feeling ums.
Oh, I can’t blame what’s-her-name
for filling my days with misery,
her attention wandering from the few
yellow leaves still hanging from my
otherwise bare uh. You know
what they say about success counted sweetest
or was it something about loving well
what’s going downhill
pretty soon. Anyway, we just couldn’t get it
um, and don’t most affairs end with a…?









Sherry Rind's poetry books are The Hawk in the Back Yard (Anhinga Award), and A Fall Out the Door (King County Arts Award, Confluence Press). Chapbooks are The Whooping Crane Dance and A Natural History of Grief. She has received grants and awards from the Seattle and King County Arts Commissions, Pacific Northwest Writers, National Endowment for the Arts, and Artist Trust.