I'm sorry, yes,
        for the trouble, the mess−sorry

        I'm late and shamed I reek
        of song and death−sorry I flat

        refuse
        to mend my way

        or shut
        my mouth−though it's not

        as if I haven't tried
        to set it right−hurrying

        in the dark
        on the packed roads−

        and damned if the house
        isn't boarded up and the yard

        stripped bare−no one to
        gape, to gasp−you did

        what?−as I hurl
        my sorries at your door−

        but a deal's a deal and yes, I
        am sorry, so

        furiously sorry, a penised
        human shouting sorry I am

        or ever was!−bone, blood
        and flesh of me!−

        sorry, mother! sorry, father!
        sorry Sheriff Big!

        that I called shame down
        upon your House−a whole

        heap
        of sorry for having fouled the air−utterly,

        damnably sorry
        for these penitential stones

        thunking against your door−deeply
        and helplessly sorry

        for the messy bed, the bad fuck−
        and the squealing, lord! the

        tears!−sorry
        you had to hear this, now,

        in the yard, in the silence
        of the night

"The Zero Yard" is a phrase from Sheila Murphy's poem, "gendarmes..." (from Falling in Love Falling in Love with You Syntax)

Copyright © Jed Allen, 2001.  All Rights Reserved.