Find Me in the Unfinished Things

Nathan Dane Clark

Find Me in the Unfinished Things

Empty the good whiskey into mismatched cups

and call it a ceremony, not a mistake.

Argue loudly over who gets the blue chair—

it wobbles like my last opinions—

then fix it together with something stubborn and ugly.

Pocket my bad jokes; spend them recklessly.

They age better than I did.

Feed the stray ideas that scratch at your doors.

Some will bite; name them anyway.

Write letters you never send, then send them by accident.

Blame the envelope.

When the world hands you a clean answer, dirty it—

truth should look like it survived a bar fight.

Forgive me in installments, like a bill you keep forgetting on purpose.

Borrow each other’s courage the way siblings borrow jackets—

without asking, never returning the same shape.

Taste everything twice: once for flavor, once for story.

Laugh at the wrong moments.

Especially the right ones.

Keep a small, ridiculous hope in your back pocket—

lint-covered, indestructible.

And when you miss me, don’t go looking—

make something instead and leave it unfinished

so I have somewhere to sit.

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It was imperative I share this particular post with DVerse Poets Pub.

©2026 Christopher Reilley 

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