“I didn’t want to be out here. Today of all days, but here I am again. This corner. This intersection. Living these humiliating moments on repeat. And you just take a picture. Cold-hearted asshole.”
© 2023 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved.
I didn’t need to advertise who or what I was. One glance and you knew: combustible. Somebody to run away from.
But I wasn’t always like this. No one ever is. You grow into it, slowly and without meaning to, but then there is a day when you no longer see the person you hoped to be.
© 2023 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved.
My brother had a plan. From the time we were small; always a plan. At seventeen, the bullet-train of ambition was off and he never looked down, much less back. I’m sure he’s rich, just like I know he’s a boss. Wherever he is today, he is the one in charge. But you can’t rise above your fate.
© 2023 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved.
The dazzling lights may dim
But you’ll always be a star.
© 2023 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved.
I scrolled as I waited, because why shouldn’t I? You said you had to talk to me. In person. So I waited at the bus stop by the tree, like I always do. I’ll be here when you arrive. Then we can talk.
© 2023 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved.
Sadness bundled with regret.
Throw in the clarity of knowing
That intimacy is gone even though
You have a partner.
That is a loneliness more punishing
Than having no one.
You know what you’ve lost.
And the ache is piercing
Because you know the exact
Limits of love.
You learn the lesson nobody intends
To teach you: love can exist without
Intimacy and it is a cold bed.
But it’s your bed now.
© 2023 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved.
“We get along okay and you’re pleasant enough. I like your stories about your ex, but let’s not pretend this is something it isn’t.”
© 2023 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved.
Writing and Photography by Jeff E. Brown