I've triedto become someone else for a while,only to discover that he, too, was me.

~ Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn Identity Poem Poetry Self

I'll say I love you,Which will lead, of course,to disappointment,but those words unsaidpoison every next moment.I will try to disappoint youbetter than anyone else has.

~ Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn Disappointment Love Poetry

ConnubialBecause with alarming accuracy she’d been identifying patterns I was unaware of—this tic, that tendency, like the way I've mastered the language of intimacy in order to conceal how I felt— I knew I was in danger of being terribly understood.

~ Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn Accuracy Alarming Connubial Identifying Intimacy Love Patterns Poem Poetry Undersand

I will try to disappoint youbetter than anyone else has.

~ Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn Disappointment Poetry

Where are we going? It’s not an issue of here or there. And if you ever feel you can’t take another step, imagine how you might feel to arrive, if not wiser, a little more aware how to inhabit the middle ground between misery and joy. Trudge on. In the higher regions, where the footing is unsure, to trudge is to survive.

~ Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn Perseverance Poetry

Altruism is for thosewho can't endure their desires.There's a worldas ambiguous as a moan,a pleasure moanour earnest neighborsmight think a crime.It's where we could live.I'll say I love you,Which will lead, of course,to disappointment,but those words unsaidpoison every next moment.I will try to disappoint youbetter than anyone else has.--Mon Semblable

~ Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn Disappointment Love Pleasure

Anyone out without the excuse of a dog should be handcuffed and searched for loneliness.

~ Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn Dogs

All good poems are victories over something.

~ Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn Poetics Poets