Poetry Annual · Fall 2003
The Coronation
Steven Barza
You were my major entity,
klieg light, oil lamp.
I offered cordial amity.
You saw me as a temp.
You bore the force Necessity,
on lovers put your stamp.
I scratched my head, thought Oddity
when people called me chump.
You justified your falsity
as miniscule, a bump,
said, "No one has eternity—
so let's enjoy our romp."
From plenitude to scarcity—
the seams of living crimp.
You left me here in paucity,
a refugee, a tramp.
I outlived my utility.
I'm master of the dump,
sovereign of a nullity,
of coarse weeds in a clump.
I briefly stroked your vanity.
Your mind's your body's pimp.
I've lost a bit of sanity.
My heart is prone to cramp.
You were my matchless quality.
I cannot find the ramp
to ardent sexuality.
I drown in dreams of damp.
You left behind this cavity.
I deem, I crown you champ.
You always liked formality,
the circumstance, the pomp.