Aparting

By David J. Lovato

In the wake of a series of losses, fantasies begin to overlap reality. Folksy, down-to-earth poems set in the modern day intersect with imaginative, absurdist images from the afterlife, as Aparting explores what it means to walk the avenues in between, and to go on living with a phantom heart.

Whether it's the end of a relationship, the death of a loved one, or the extinguishing of a spark of inspiration or passion, the characters in Aparting find themselves in the trenches of grief, trying to learn how to go on existing as a remaining part of a once-complete whole.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David J. Lovato
• Release date: Nov 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215894194

David J. Lovato

I live in Kansas City, where I spend most of my time reading, writing, or reading and writing.

Book preview

Aparting

a story told through poetry by

David J. Lovato

Copyright © 2023 David J. Lovato

Cover photo copyright © 2023 David J. Lovato

Only Ever and Three Goodbyes and My Battery is Low and it’s Getting Dark originally published on www.davidjlovato.com

All rights reserved.

Obviously, this one’s for my dad.

Perhaps less obviously, this one’s also for you.

For all the ones

I haven’t lost,

I’m just aparting from.

And for all of you

Who walk this earth

And know aparting, too.

Table of Contents

The House You’re Building

Life After Money

Concurrents

Only Ever

From Time to Time

Passing the Scene of an Emergency

The Lonely Tavern Keeper

I See You Glow

Counting Sleeps

Big and Strong

My Battery is Low and it’s Getting Dark

Into the Dirt

When We Meet Again

The View Through an Afterlife Window

Sunrise

Three Goodbyes

Beats Per Minute

Gardens and Guitars

Something That Stays

Make Like a Tree

In Loving Memory

Aparting

Afterword

About the Author

The House You’re Building

Somewhere you’re building a house

For all of us to meet

What is heaven if not a mansion?

What’s a mansion if not a home for us to rest our feet?

And you’re saving space for me to keep a garden,

And every autumn we collect the golden leaves

And the sky is made of pink clouds

And no aparting lasts eternally

I can’t wait to meet you there.

Life After Money

So now we’re living in the future

It doesn’t look quite like we imagined it would

Too much has changed,

But some things haven’t changed enough

And you’re not here

And did you know?

I remember standing barefoot in the snow

My memories are scraped like faded lines