Muse
She liked the fact that she inspired him,
although she never quite desired him,
and he was grateful to have found her
when he could stand to be around her.
Robert West‘s poems have previously appeared in Light, Poetry, Asheville Poetry Review, Southern Poetry Review, Alabama Literary Review, Still, Ted Kooser’s column “American Life in Poetry,” and other venues. Finishing Line Press published his 2011 chapbook, Convalescent. He lives in Starkville, MS with his wife and daughter, and teaches in the Department of English at Mississippi State University.