Fall in the Literary Review - Linda Pastan

[terabithiabeth.livejournal.com]

Though we're pages apart this time,
just being in the same issue
is like being at a party together,
you in your semi-formal attire,
me with my ragged lines,
somber again, but willing
to share a drink or two,
even to exchange a literary joke.
And because we won't ever meet,

because the only sheets we'll share
are pages in a magazine,
you don't mind how old I am,
and I don't care what you look like
or if you're married,
as your poem this time implies.
I don't even care who the lucky "you" is
you keep addressing. I like
to think it's me.

~ Linda Pastan, from Carnival Evening: New and Selected Poems 1968 - 1998