Poetry pt. 3!!

The lovesick poet answers a question

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You ask me

Who do you love

I think I love everyone, a little

I hand out pieces of my heart

Like small bites from a strawberry

Dear X, 

Standing by the door 

like a housewife

Waiting for my cheating husband 

To come home from war

Everyone else has left my side

One by one they return inside

You sent me a letter

I threw it away

What am I waiting for?

Standing by the door

COLLECTOR

I am collecting things always-

I am saving little snippets of paper and old wrappers

I was taught this by a friend

I have collected a image of her, 

In my mind

(And many others have been collected by me as well) 

I have collected quotes

Authors I like

Books I’ve re read a million times 

Instances of humanity and kindness

Smells, tastes, emotions to try

What am I collecting currently? 

I may be collecting a longing for summer

( I am)

But I am surely collecting other things

Things (what a fun word to use; things) 

Like books about the sea, and loss

Uncomfortable beds

and hats shaped like dinosaurs 

Cherry chapsticked- lips

and peach ice tea bottles

Clothes that no longer fit me

and overwhelming feelings 

of jellyfishes

Ah, I suppose the boxes

of collections 

in my brain 

might have spilled

(There goes my memories) 

ARIZONA

I am off to visit my grandmother

The plane lands and I am relieved 

Her car is warm and red and it smells like it always does, clean

We drive under the bridge with the lizard

All around us, cactus

I am seven, maybe eight, and I will remember it like this

Until I turn Twelve

Now I don’t go their anymore

DEER

At my grandfathers funeral I ran in the grass

I laid down my head in the field 

and acted as though I was a young child

A deer approached me, arms reach away

That was the second deer

 I had seen that day

At the burial a deer came 

and ate his flowers, right in front of us

Popa, you were that deer? 

Or was it my uncle, who died so young I never knew him?

I was the only one of the many I told 

who understood that those deer

Were speaking something 

with its big brown eyes 

If I had a boyfriend

I would scratch his hair like he was a dog

A foolish one

with sharp teeth that drool spills from

Retriever o’mine,

Retrieve for me the love 

I tossed out into the world 

Fetch my heart for me, my pet

Who could ever love me like foolish dog

When I love just like that

I am the foolish dog my one,

Let me fetch your misty heart