I Packed My Life In A Suitcase Poem by Alain Joubert

I packed my life in a suitcase
I bought at the Swap Shop for us to
Go on a week-end getaway in
Bahamas
I packed my clothes, my thoughts, and my small library
And the expensive vin Du-Rhone I got for your
Anniversary
My small library of course
My escapism
No intention to let it behind
Dante's inferno, Encyclopedias, dozens of
Collected poems of such and such…
I stuffed everything in the trunk of my white
92 Pontiac Bonneville
Ha! Why they made this trunk so small
No more room for more books
I took out some clothes and some other belongings
Left them beside the road -
It‘d be better off at a Salvation Army-
Filled the space with more
Encyclopedias and dozens of
Collected poems of such and such…

I drove and kept on driving with my head still
Turned to the horizon ahead
Looking forward to not looking backward
Not in that shameful rear mirror that would bring back
Sad memories
I swore to myself after sailing off I would burn the ship
To the bone but
As I hit Alligator Alley I remembered I forgot
Something
My heart
Still bleeding in the perfidy
Of your hands