Miss Lonelyhearts Wears the Party Dress
3:30 in the morning
in the middle of the night:
my phone rings on silent
and it’s you,
calling to cry
about another man that doesn’t want you.
I answer because I want you
to smile.
Even if I can’t see it,
I’ll hear it in your breath,
or at least that’s what I tell myself,
like how I tell myself
we don’t just want each other
because we can’t have each other.
I guess that’s what faith is,
why faith is so hard to keep,
especially when the faith is
only in yourself,
and in your ability to make
a miracle with someone else,
even though it’s never happened before.
This poem uses seemingly incompatible opposites (morning/night, ringing/silent) to show that several different types of love can exist between the same people at the same time. For example, unrequited romantic love doesn’t cancel out spiritual or friendly love. Also, the type of love you receive from others can sometimes dictate the type of love you show to others, but the love you receive from others must never dictate the love you show yourself.
Love always,
your Mister
P.S. – The title of this poem comes from Chapter 14 (“Miss Lonelyhearts and the Party Dress”) of Nathanael West’s Miss Lonelyhearts, the novella upon which this entire project is based.
Lonely Hearts Chapel 