September

September keeps stealing
the people I love away from me.

There has been too much heat
and too little shade these days.

You find neighbors in their porches
talking politics and having lemonade.

We now plant people like trees.
They grow arms as long as branches

which still fail to touch the clouds
but make great hangers for hopes.

Bring the canary back into the house by nightfall.

- says your last note

forgiving the creature for it cannot sing.
This is the lesson you leave us.

Close to heart

My grandmother had a strategy
to remember anything -
she stashed things in her bra:

her ID card,
money,
shopping lists,

general notes,
bus tickets,
handkerchiefs,

a black and white photo of grandpa
in his wedding suit,
'what a rare man he was'. 

As I look for a safe place
to keep my favorite thought of you,
she comes back to my mind

gathering blackberries in the yard,
lost in conversations with the memory
of the man she loved always close to heart.

This will destroy you (but will also set your soul free)

I discover a fearless heart
when I repeat my love
for a man who denied me
three times.

The hours you spent
accounting my masks,
observing my stumbles

to prove me imperfect -

have you assumed 

they would make me weak?

I'm the weakest a human being can be,

I love. You don't know what it is.

Or maybe you do.
You block the bridge I've built to you
knowing I always cross it alone.
Maybe, you've already gotten yourself

a weakness.
This will destroy you,
my dear one.
(But will also set your soul free.)

Underworld

Dear G,

you go unspeakable
and I cannot guess
what runs in your chest,

if it is the city sewage
or a river of hot lava.
Will you take me on a tour?

Have I not said it
a thousand times
that I am not afraid of

your underworld?

Fishing

Last night
I was mistakenly happy
for two hours.

The thrill reminded me
of the first summer
I went fishing with my father,

when I caught
a P. Lineatus which was
under the minimum length limit,

and I had to
return it to the river
and watch it go away.

How to embrace a man who is too far from your touch

You wake up and say good morning
to the favorite photo of his you keep nearby

when it's too early to disturb his sleep
and you are acquainted with his grumpy version.

You get mad at him whenever he gets stung
because he can't stop playing with bees

or when he falls sick and refuses to believe
the effectiveness of your home remedies.

You be there for him in silence when
his heart caves in and he doesn't feel like talking.

You be there for him at two in the morning
when he has an idea or can't sleep,

for he could have called any person in the world
but he picked you.

You end your conversations with a kiss
you can't deliver yourself to his forehead

and because sometimes he might doubt it,
you tell him you love him, before he closes his eyes.

A night of firsts

Mid August:

we walk the empty neighborhood streets
against the cold, sharp wind -
none of us wants to get home.

I listen heedfully, he talks routine -
a frequent camouflage for his displeasure.
I should probably have written it down.

He would have liked it better,
to read an account of my anger and dismay
so he did not have to deal with my eyes.

It is a night of firsts:
First time I speak out -
I have a list, still manage to get lost.

First time he hugs me
like one is supposed to
hug a girl.

He lowers the guard
for the first time
and lets slip he fears I go away.

The bee charmer

Because they know of the mythical sweetness you hide,
they cross distances to dance around you,
tiny fearful hearts muted by the flap of their wings.

For the love of you, they cobbled
your lips and eyes together -
so they could tell your face apart from any other.

A blend of comfort and relief that they will
meet a destiny on the touch of your fingertips
for they can rest their tiredness upon familiar palms.

To tell me away

Dear G,

Even now you have started
studying ways to not let people close
I wanted to tell it to your skin
avoiding my fingertips
that I am also afraid.

I wanted to tell it to your eyes
on the rare occasions they find mine
that I am not going anywhere
that the only way to lose me
is to tell me away.