Call (718) 429-2020
the sign said, and
I copied on a scrap of paper
meaning to save for a poem
I might need later in life.
But my current wife
found it in my pants,
and maybe it seemed too good to be true,
for a hundred bucks a kit with instructions
and entree to the Divorce Hot Line
manned till the wee hours
when things always seem most dire.
And maybe she’s tired after all these years
of me finding one damn poem after another
as I drive all over town,
drinking coffee from cardboard cups
while she works her ass off
to keep bread in my mouth,
a pen in my hand,
and one eye on the girl next door,
I confess,
I might be taking a shine to.
Alan Walowitz is a poet who’s been writing for quite a few years, and currently in Nassau County, where he keeps his eye on New York City proper from his doorstep. He teaches some days at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY, and St. John’s University in Jamaica, NY.
Categories: Confession, Poetry, Themed
Tags: Alan Walowitz, Cheap Divorce, Confession, e-zine, ezine, hyperbole, longing, melancholy, melancholy hyperbole, new, poem, poet, poetry, poets, submit, writing
Melancholy Hyperbole 
This poem touched a nerve in me. Alan Walowitz’s always move me.
A wonderful poem! An entire marriage is distilled onto a piece of paper in a man’s deep dark pocket.
I was so touched by this poem. Even though I felt sorry for the hard working wife, the honesty of the narrator made him a sympathetic character. In what at first appears to be a light hearted piece, the poet succinctly captures the complexities of relationships.
Terrific fun serious sly knowing and yes, I hope it’s not soooo real!!!
Love, Jeanette
Alan wonderfully captures the 21st century relationship, in which the business of the divorce hotline and the coffee shop and all the who-earns-more-than-who is all-defining.
Very nice work from this artist.
Alan–
I found the line, “finding one damn poem after another” to be very metaphysical. Very respectable work.
— Lauren