My Last Love

for Clarissa

• My last love leapt into my life
• like a trapeze artist, flying across the air,
• arms outstretched, reaching toward me
• and I caught her, giving the crowd a scare.
• I took her quickly into my heart
• where she nestled in the soft loam,
• waiting, getting ready to play her part,
• and she did, my last love leapt again
• and I took her into my home to keep
• and my last love lasted longer
• my last love turned into a love so deep
• that it lingered long and our love grew stronger.
• Our lives blended easily, no bother, hassle or fuss
• as two became three; not one: a he, a she, an us.

St. Valentine’s Day, 2003

Fred Moramarco was a poet, literary critic, professor of literature, producer, director, and actor. He was the founding editor of Poetry International, coproduced the award-winning Hannah and Martin at the Lyceum Theater in 2006, and performed at the Old Globe, the San Diego Rep, Sledgehammer, Diversionary Theatre, and with other San Diego theater companies. He is the author and editor of several books, including Containing Multitudes: Poetry in the U.S. since 1950; Men of Our Time; and Deliciously Italian. “My Last Love” is from his 2010 collection The City of Eden, published by Laterthanever Productions, and is reprinted by permission. A much loved member of the Southern California literary and theater community, he died of a heart attack the evening before Valentine’s Day, 2012. A memorial gathering, sponsored by the Department of English and Comparative Language, will be held for Fred Moramarco on the SDSU campus on March 18.