Charlene Tatenda

Charlene Tatenda Aug 2013

I am wilting flowers on the living room
table that you just can’t throw away.
I am laughter held far too long and
the lake you wish to swim but not drown in.
I am in the background of every tourist’s photos
and in the foreground of nobody’s thoughts.
I am the bird that forgot to migrate and
will freeze to death without ever knowing why.
I am pants that never fit quite right.
I am tearful 2 am apologies and stepped on toes
while learning to dance.
I am the alarm that never wakes you from nightmares.

You are a warm bed on a cold winter morning,
the first to be chosen and the last to be forgotten.
You are the chocolate placed on a hotel bed’s pillow,
stolen kisses in the dark and hand holding in the light.
You are Colorado sunrises and Pennsylvania sunsets.
You are hit radio singles and dusty vinyl records,
premium cigars, silk bowties and overflowing picnic baskets.
You are Disney movies and handwritten letters,
and you are the city lights peeking over the horizon.
Truth is, you are mine to keep and I am yours to bear.

Charlene Tatenda Aug 2013

You Never

You never saw me grabbing your letters
I threw into the fire only moments ago,
trembling as I kissed my burnt fingers.

You’ll never know how I can’t befriend
anyone who has your name,
and how I have to hold back punching
any blue eyed boy who so much as looks at me.

You never saw me giggling at nothing
in a bar at two in the afternoon
where they said you used to work.

You’ll never know how I envy
the girls with kissable collarbones,
and how I always knew where your lips
wanted to be.

You never saw me singing about love
on broken pianos and out of tune guitars,
but you’ll hear about it someday soon.

You’ll never know that I spent my last dime
on replacing the gold watch you lost that was
handed down to you by your beloved grandfather,

but you left me before I could give it to you,
so I gave it to a homeless man who pawned it
for a pack of Camels and cheap beer.

You never saw me ride the subway
all over town trying to find the love
you buried underneath the tracks,

and although you may know me more now,
I suspect you will understand me a lot less.

Charlene Tatenda Aug 2013

Where They Belong

I kept my dreams in my back pocket
and tattooed my heart on my wrist,
so when broken it could be easily kissed.

I kept my fears below my feet
and my hopes on my shoulders,
so when the world weighed down
I could remove the heavy boulder.

I kept his love in my hips
and her strength in my eyes,
and that is why they’re both so wide.

I hid insecurities in my hollow bones
and scratched loneliness off my skin,
so my outsides reflected the beauty within.

Charlene Tatenda Aug 2013

Duet

cigarette duet,
alcohol waltz,
in each other’s wounds
we toss handfuls of salt.

the sandcastles
we build alone are regal,
but together our
ocean waves are lethal.

in the pills we find thrills,
in broken hearts we find art.

we scar our skin
and stain our teeth
so we can feel
somewhat complete.

drink my poison
and I’ll down yours,
so we can live with a
temporary cure.

we are each other’s downfall,
the source of all our pain,
but we’ll keep returning to each other
again and again.

— The End —