I watch you dress to leave. Nearly four in the morning. We have been alternating between drinking and fucking since ten last night. My friends have warned me more than once about married men. I should have learned from the last one—but I couldn’t resist.

art of the chase

I stare at the clock again. Yet another sleepless night. You told me you’d be late and not to wait up. I know what you’ve been doing. I know who you’ve been doing it with. The truth is, I like him; it’s you I don’t trust. I should have listened to my sister’s warnings about you.

careless vows
falter at the finish line

I leave at four and walk the eight blocks to my apartment. A trudge that seems lonelier and emptier with each step. At this hour, not a person, not a headlight, not even a stray cat. I told my wife I’d be home after the bars close, and so I plod. I smell you on my skin. She will too. I should have stayed in your bed.

ashtray crowded
with stubbed cigarettes
clash at sunup

—Short-listed Finalist in MacQ’s Cheribun Challenge #3

Scott Wiggerman

A member of the Texas Institute of Letters, Albuquerque poet Scott Wiggerman is the author of three books of poetry, Leaf and Beak: Sonnets (Purple Flag), Presence (Pecan Grove Press), and Vegetables and Other Relationships (Plain View Press); and the editor of several volumes, including Wingbeats I and II: Exercises & Practice in Poetry (Dos Gatos Press, of which he is co-founder with David Meischen).

In recent years, Scott’s love of poetic form has moved largely into Japanese forms, and haiku and art have become more central to his work as an artist of both the page and canvas. For more, see his online portfolio: https://scottwiggerman.myportfolio.com

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Brothers by Blood, braided cheribun by Scott Wiggerman, short-listed Finalist in MacQ’s Second Cheribun Challenge (Issue 24, August 2024)

⚡ The Things I Do for Porn, braided cheribun by Wiggerman, long-listed Finalist in MacQ’s Second Cheribun Challenge (Issue 25, September 2024)

⚡ Wiggerman’s introduction to his curated collection of haiku on the theme of the LGBTQIA+ experience, for National Poetry Month: Haiku of the Day, April 2023; scroll down a bit to access the slide show for April.

⚡ The Story of Fire, haibun by Wiggerman in Issue 16 of MacQueen’s Quinterly (January 2023)