Flip Flops at 4am

A jealous boyfriend loses his temper over a suspicious phone call.

It’s amazing how peaceful our lives can be

The daily dull of nothing happening

We complain about it

We fight against it

 

It only takes one moment for that dull to blaze away

The strange phone call at 2am

Her voice on another man’s phone

Your heart sinking

 

She’s been drinking with friends

It’s no big deal she assures you

They have to eat themselves sober

She’ll be home soon

 

Two hours pass with no word

The restaurant is twenty minutes away

You buzz the strange cell number

His number

No answer

 

You call again and he picks up

Is she there?

Yes, close by her voice echoes

She says she’s buying new flips flops

At four in the morning

 

The anger rises again

His phone, his voice, she’s with him

She’s out at four in the morning

While your home alone

Feeling like a jealous boyfriend

 

It’s no win really

You can be angry or disappointed

Confused or feeling mislead

All of it bullshit

 

Tiny inferences lead you to conclusions

None of which might be true

She has a friend or a crush

It’s usually simple and brief

And harmless

 

Your actions can make it worse

But only worse

Nothing can make it better

Nothing but trust

 

Flip flops at four in the morning

If that’s what she says

Then you believe her

He’s just a friend

So you believe her

 

It’s a feeling of powerlessness

The waiting, the wondering

In the end she did come home to you

And that’s all that matters

 

Besides

She has the new flip flops

To prove it

 

 

www.suburbanfiction.com

 

Reviews

[April Child]

I like this way of writing about jealousy and the title is genius. It's a nicely flowing poem just carries you along with it's rhythm. However, the first 2 verses were the ones for me.... could have been the opening to many different scenarios and it is so true that we complain about boredom but it just takes that one single moment to change everything and make us realise there are worse things than being bored.

[closed account]

omgosh!! flip flops at 4:00 in the morning?? hmmmmmm, I enjoyed reading this, thanks for sharing..

[Rhine Wolf]

Ah to trust is easy in the begining but can be brocken so easlly too! brilliantly written! the words just kept me there wanting to know more, needing to find out the outcome.

[Cognitive Facade]

Brillant! I love the way it just hits the spot where jealousy lives and makes a connection!

[jhappen]

It made me think of the moment when all alone with no since of comprehending where someone who claim to love you is at. A peak of anger wrapped with jealousy forms within the pit of your throat. And then confident stand and tell you to get control of the emotions. It is late night dispair meet assurrance. Like your style

[emmajoy]

Jealousy and how it gets us all! Fine form, fine outcrying of feelings, expressed in a powerful style. Your use of words is incredibly good, nothing too fancy, nothing too simple. The final few lines have a mix of pathos and humour - like that very much.

[SilentDream]

The inner turmoil is expressed so well here. The ending really captured that feeling of powerlessness.
It felt like acquiescence.

Pen on!
((Hugs and LOve)) ~SilentDream

[Lily1111]

Love the emotion expressed here so honestly. Those nagging doubts of jealousy, wanting to believe but yet, not wanting to be found the fool for believing. Really enjoyed this one. I like your "voice", it brings a familarity with it that makes it seem like you related this event to me (the reader) over coffee one day.

Nice write!

[Pointblank]

I can understand this..being on the other side of this type call once or twice...just feeling desired by another...but always coming home is the key. Insight here is incredibly honest. I like.

[princessorianna]

very true...i think i would be jealous as well hearing something like this from my fiance...even if he did bring home the flip-flops ;) but i have also been on the receiving end of it. isn't it awful how jealousy prevails so often in our society? ::sigh::

[robin]

I like the pointless surrender to trash that should empower you to take it out and leave it for the garbagemen. I like the rationalization going back and forth, how there's insight but no action. Desperate and sad how we torture ourselves for someone who doesn't get "it". The lameness of her return, the lameness of this is as good as it gets...striking, stirring the seething inside. Such a good unresolved write spins my gears! Excellent!