A Poem by J.K. Durick

Leaving

Spur of the moment decisions
like these take years to make –

accumulated grief, slights,
some rights and wrongs,

petty differences piled high,
like dirty laundry,

unsorted, unfolded,
impossible to put away,

and arguments, endless
arguments, arguments

so vague they disappear
when we go to explain

who we are in all of this,
but it’s finally final, like

the front door, the three stairs,
the walkway, and the car

at the end of the drive
ready to act on what we decide.



J. K. Durick is presently a writing teacher at the Community College of Vermont and an online writing tutor. His recent poems have appeared in Third Wednesday, Four and Twenty, Common Ground Review, and Literary Juice.