Valentine Reflections on a Fresh Ex Plus Orengo Walking Off Stage

We spent so much time
Fighting for space and attention
That we forgot we were
Passionately in love
We spent so much time
Rewinding the Relationship video tape
To review for the eightieth time
the origins of past wrongs
That we forgot our delirious
First encounter
I watch the snow fall outside
My Montreal window
As I talk to you five hundred miles away
Your side of the bed is still unslept in
I am still kicking myself
For not getting your special birthday present
On time to you myself by
Purolator, Fedex or UPS
The day before the day before yesterday
Instead of sending an inconsiderate ditz of a
Mutual male friend who was in town to check out the clubs
An easy going nice guy with a hearty laugh
But who is absolutely clueless
When it comes to the precise science of timing
In the intricate world of romance
Last night we spoke way past midnight
The way we used to all those years ago
When we first met
Before we moved in together
And went everywhere together most of the time
Remember how I would call you
And we would talk half the night
And then you’d jump into a cab
And I would be there waiting
At the top of the stairs
Anxious to sweep you
into my arms and onto
My queen size futon
For hours of unbridled passion
Three weeks ago
We made it official
What we have been
ignoring and denying
For months
The reality
That we are no longer together
At least not in the old way
At first
Our first reaction
Was to assume that
We were no longer together
Because we were each checking out
Other people
And then after double-checking
It was obvious
That we both slept alone in our separate beds
Divided by provincial boundaries
And our reluctance to discuss
What lay at the bottom of our estrangement
Last night we made out on the phone
Exchanging sweet nothings all night
Telling each other over and over and over again
Yes, let us remember it is all over
We are through
We are no longer in a relationship
We have just broken up
We are just good platonic friends now
And yet
We still could not resist
Asking not so discreetly
What our respective
Valentine Day’s plans were….




"Orengos Walks Off The Stage..."

Could have been different
you know
The outcome that is
Could have been different
you know
Should have been different
you see
The story at the end
of the evening
Should have been
different
There you were
bravest of the bravest brave
Summoning
the wherewithal
To follow through
with your bravest gesture of all
Walking out of
that counting hall
with your head held high
walking past the cheering and the jeering
There was definitely
Something wrong
With that picture
Looked to us
As if we watching a movie
Upside down backwards
This was not the way
It was supposed
To end
This was not the way
It was meant to be
We had foreseen the final credits
Roll over images of a triumphant fist
Shaking jubilantly as you celebrated
With all of us
Not walking away dejectedly
As we ululated deliriously
Something, definitely
was wrong
with this sad picture
Of your long face,
an island
in that ocean
of beaming faces
Instead you are pensive in a western rural enclave
Wondering where the bag of bricks came from
To knock you senseless
Before a small avalanche of rocks
Completed the burial
All those lonely nights planning the crowded afternoons
All those lonely years leading the valiant battles
All those lonely days shouting hoarsely in the wilderness
All those nights, years, days forgotten
In this evening of your untimely slaughter
They say the great tragic figures in history
And I mean tragic the way the Greeks meant tragic
They say all the tragic figures
Were brought down by one fatal flaw
Greed in one, jealousy in another
What was your vulnerable heel,
O our wounded Achilles?
You had led us in swimming in those shark infested waters for so long
You had guided us through the hyena’s lair and the viper’s nooks
You had stamped out the tarantulas just as they were about to pounce
And you did that so many times
And you did that so many times
And you did that so many times
Why then Jay- Ag from our own West Side
Why then Jay-Ag from our own West Side
Why Jay-Ag
Why Jay-Ag O.R.E.N.
Why Jay –Ag O.R.E.N.G.O.
Why, O Why
Why , O Why
Did you swim against the tide
Why did you swim against the tide
Why did you swim against the tide
Why did you swim
against the tide
you had been ahead for so long?
What now, Jay Ag
What now
What now Jay Ag
What now
Forever such a restless soul
How do you find solace in obscurity
At this time, when the weeding is done
And the seedlings struggle to assert their young lives
What now Jay Ag
What now
What now Jay Ag
What now…..

Onyango Oloo
Montreal, January 10, 2003 2:11 AM