I Gave You My—

carefully folded, swooned, postpartum
 
posthaste—
 
my letter to you, I gave—

 
curious, you said uncanny you

 
said the color of my eyes in this light
 
is a different shade of green said
 
you don't eat meat but you wear
 
leather outside the birds
 
& inside the sun on the chair
 
& my thighs spread &
 
stick to the plastic &
 
you said you loved
 
it & the ampersand & my swoon
 
silently inside my skirt & the ochre
 
on the building changes to umber
 
in the light & the tree outside is
 
bare & I am, my foot inside my slipper
 
my toes curled behind & ow & yes
 
& some days are sunny days & some
 
days are

Valerie Wetlaufer, "I Gave You My—" from Mysterious Acts by My People. Copyright © 2014 by Valerie Wetlaufer.  Reprinted by permission of Sibling Rivalry Press.
Source: Mysterious Acts by My People (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2014)
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