Wanted and Waiting: A Writing Impact Poem

_{Painted with coffee by Michael Aaron Williams}

I tried breathing.

She tried averting her gaze, tried to
Her eyes fell to my hands, fell to
I wanted to breathe in the smoke curling from her cigarette, I wanted
She took a sip from my coffee, making a face, I like it black and she
I wanted to
Her hair and her tobacco and her coffee. I could taste
I leaned across the table, littered with magazines, with casting calls, with
She laughs a little, she listens a lot.

I kiss her mouth. No, I kiss
She bobs her head to the music from the guy outside. He takes cool drinks from the crisp autumn air and sings about
I want to love her, but I don't know her. She doesn't know
I'm a shipwreck and she's an aeroplane, I'm waving
My mouth doesn't work. She wants
I touch
She sings

I laugh and then it's back to
She leaves her cigarette butt in her coffee. I imagine how that must
She smells of dirt and closeness and I want to
She leaves the shop, we wave, we smile and then I
She gathers the courage to kiss me about five seconds too late.
I wanted

~

Thanks for reading! This is a poem I just kinda regurgitated for a contest. It's like the poetry version of what Carlo DiPalma does with his cuts in Deconstructing Harry. I wanted to see if I could create half a painting and allow the reader to fill in the rest. We'll see how well it worked! Love you guys, and God bless! <3