In the movies, when your lover
is about to board a plane to a place
they may never return from,
you are supposed to jump barriers.
You are supposed to dash through
security checkpoints, knock over
the guards who stand in your way,
damn the consequences,
and tell them you love them,
and then they will stay with you.
When I tried that,
they pinned me to the ground
and you still went to Afghanistan.
This poem was originally published under the pen name Gabriel Gadfly.
