Force of habit that I keep talking
to him even if he has not responded

in more than a quarter century. Dead
for nearly a decade. Sorry

for this latest obsession
and the way I write around it

in circles, never piercing
the heart so I can move on.

This isn’t an amends. I see no curve

in the road, no opportunity to make a U-turn. No desire. No plea

for forgiveness. A status update—
nothing more.