The Light That Never Goes Out Goes Out
by Rob Colgate
The pill bottle now empty. The throat after swallowing.
After mating, when the swallows stop singing.
The disturbed head once it stops stinging.
The confusion is gone. The voices gone silent.
A silence. A silence after the organ stops ringing.
The organ failing. The body after the organ is removed.
The life after the body is buried. The silence failing.
The stillness of fine hairs when the breeze has passed.
The stillness of these hairs after the boy has let go of your face.
The mouth with one tongue instead of two.
The anus after the penis departs. The bed, similarly.
A silence after coming. A silence after coming home.
Come home. The heart is a muscle that fills with blood.
You are a boy that was filled with love. Doves remove your heart
and still you live. We could share our blood, call it a home.
I love you. How I’d pass through the days like a wind.
After mating, when the swallows stop singing.
The disturbed head once it stops stinging.
The confusion is gone. The voices gone silent.
A silence. A silence after the organ stops ringing.
The organ failing. The body after the organ is removed.
The life after the body is buried. The silence failing.
The stillness of fine hairs when the breeze has passed.
The stillness of these hairs after the boy has let go of your face.
The mouth with one tongue instead of two.
The anus after the penis departs. The bed, similarly.
A silence after coming. A silence after coming home.
Come home. The heart is a muscle that fills with blood.
You are a boy that was filled with love. Doves remove your heart
and still you live. We could share our blood, call it a home.
I love you. How I’d pass through the days like a wind.
Rob Colgate is a Filipino-American poet from Evanston, IL. He holds a degree in psychology from Yale University and is currently pursuing his MFA in poetry with the New Writers Project at UT Austin, where he is also working towards a certificate in critical disability studies. A Pushcart nominee, in Austin he teaches workshops in both creative writing and emotional intelligence. His work is featured in Best New Poets 2020; his first chapbook, So Dark the Gap, was published by Tammy in March 2020 and won the ReadsRainbow Prize for poetry. You can find him at robcolgate.com.