Tuesday, July 6, 2010

But you Can




You can’t fall in love
And I don’t know any other way
Except falling
It is most comfortable
For me to land on my back
To roll over and crawl
Back to bed

It is easier for me to just go back to sleep
To forget your persuasive stare
to crawl into a perfect sleep
and nestle for days

to live in the wreckage of past loves
to mourn my old self
it is much easier, you’ll see
than what I have chosen

to take you on
wrap my head
around a new tone of voice
wrap my legs around a new torso
learn to breath a new shallow
breath
become a fixture in your bedroom
the walls of your mind
it is much easier for me to
lie flat on my back
in my own room
to dream up a perfect made-up love affair
that will never burn me
or take me prisoner

but I have placed you under my tongue
like a razorblade
So even if I can’t feel you anymore
I know you’re still there
a tiny paper cut I am apt to dip in vinegar
A tiny bruise
I will not stop touching
because I have let you touch me

If you cannot fall in love
I should just fall out of bed
fall off my horse mid-gallop
fall into someone else’s lap
like a clumsy napkin

Be someone else’s main course
and stop being your side dish

But there is a place for you
still there is a place for you
between my tongue and cheek
an after thought
an awkward fumble in a parked car
a perfectly rounded sigh
a half full-cup I haven’t tipped over yet

and you are soft-skin and a perfect open mouthed kiss
you are driving away
before I’m half-way out of the car
you are waving from down the street
you are moving forward
you are not even looking back.

1 comment:

Maddie Downer said...

Zoe!! I love this poem :)