when a poet falls in love with you
you can never die
they will notice the way
you rub your palms and look down
when someone is angry at you
and the way you smirk
as you pull away from a kiss

they will notice how you can't sleep
without your body touching someone else's
how you never crease any pages of books
and how you close your eyes when you dance in your kitchen
with your record player on

they will find all of the words
that they see you as
and turn them into something beautiful

people say you die twice
once when you stop breathing
and when someone says your name
for the last time

if you fall in love with a poet
they will never stop
mentioning your name
you will be alive
for eternity

The world can’t see me like this.
Not again.
The people who look, a given,
but certainly not the ocean—
the moon, the sunset, the tide.
They have known me in a different life.

You took my talk as truth,
and proposed a compromise.
So I donned an unfamiliar sweatshirt,
a black cap and glasses.
Though you had nothing to hide from
By any stretch or reach
You and me went incognito to the beach.