You touched me on the shoulder
as you ran quickly by on your phone.
I was in such a hurry
to climb those jenga stairs
that I didn't realize it was you,
until I saw that tiny body
and that frenzy of tousled blond hair
swishing in the wind.
I turned around and ran
to you,
as you walked away.
I ran to you
and grabbed your arm.
"Don't touch me," you said.
Diamonds falling from your eyes,
I picked at them with my pinky fingernail,
searching for the loam beneath.
"Where've you been?" I yelled.
"You don't know what's happened to me!" You yelled,
and you lifted your shirt and felt at a pink scar;
a trench in your belly,
a wound that I had infected.
People stared,
but I just wanted to yell,
there was so much yelling inside of me.
I yelled like a lover yells,
yelled with my heart.
The yell sounded like this:
"Can I hold you one last time?
I just want to hold you," I said,
like a loon,
but it was the only thing
I ever wanted.
To hold all of you
in one moment.
And so you came to me,
and let me hold you a while.
but the skin between us
was better for separating,
and I told you
to call me if you needed me,
even though I knew you never would.
And you walked away,
that tiny body of circling movement
and head full of giant clams
with their swirling pink pearls
moving farther and farther.
Until you were in the distance
and invincible.
Cyclists whizzed by,
phones beeped onward,
taxis rode highways of clouds
beneath the bridge,
and I thrummed quietly,
picking at the diamonds in my hands,
searching for the loam
that I could put into the planters,
food for the flowers
I had always wanted you to see.
Mar 1, 2012
Mar 1, 2012 at 9:44 AM UTC
You touched me on the shoulder
as you ran quickly by on your phone.
I was in such a hurry
to climb those jenga stairs
that I didn't realize it was you,
until I saw that tiny body
and that frenzy of tousled blond hair
swishing in the wind.
I turned around and ran
to you,
as you walked away.
I ran to you
and grabbed your arm.
"Don't touch me," you said.
Diamonds falling from your eyes,
I picked at them with my pinky fingernail,
searching for the loam beneath.
"Where've you been?" I yelled.
"You don't know what's happened to me!" You yelled,
and you lifted your shirt and felt at a pink scar;
a trench in your belly,
a wound that I had infected.
People stared,
but I just wanted to yell,
there was so much yelling inside of me.
I yelled like a lover yells,
yelled with my heart.
The yell sounded like this:
"Can I hold you one last time?
I just want to hold you," I said,
like a loon,
but it was the only thing
I ever wanted.
To hold all of you
in one moment.
And so you came to me,
and let me hold you a while.
but the skin between us
was better for separating,
and I told you
to call me if you needed me,
even though I knew you never would.
And you walked away,
that tiny body of circling movement
and head full of giant clams
with their swirling pink pearls
moving farther and farther.
Until you were in the distance
and invincible.
Cyclists whizzed by,
phones beeped onward,
taxis rode highways of clouds
beneath the bridge,
and I thrummed quietly,
picking at the diamonds in my hands,
searching for the loam
that I could put into the planters,
food for the flowers
I had always wanted you to see.
Request permission to use this poem