Promise, John Grey (March 2026)

 

Promise

I promise not to make fun of your dress sense
or drive a cold spike through your skull
or disparage your cooking skills
or push you off a cliff
or make you wait
or poison your oatmeal
or block your view
or have you locked away
or shout at you when I could whisper
or smother you with a pillow
or make you drive on long trips when you’re tired
or sic a wild boar on you
or bluster or talk to you in riddles
or hire a hit man or a voodoo priestess to get rid of you
or snore 
or blow you to pieces with TNT –
and what have you got?
            richer or poor
            sickness or in health –
I have so many promises 
and I promise only
to break half of them.