With silver dollars in my eyes, I lay the world to rest. Beyond my vision lives a land that's tender.
It's made of letters that you wrote; of hotel rooms with down pillows and wafers of olive oil soap; of kisses dotted on my belly. It exists only here.
Now is the small box, wrapped in ribbon. Now I pull the ribbon, and pull and pull.
Here is the bar we huddled in when the rain fell, smelling of bleach and cedar candles. Here is the sugared rim on your whiskey drink and its taste that lingers through us. Here is the rippled gaze that undoes a seam on my sweater, and pulls and pulls.
Damp hair, cold caught. Shriveled toes dragged through snowmelt. Puppy teeth ripping through my scarf. Blink; try again.
I hear the knock on my door at midnight. I crack it open for an easy grin that cracks me open. Then, always then, a fist in the hair at the nape of my neck.
Quiet corners of beloved cafes, ruined with hot tears and cold coffee. Blink; try again.
A drunken purge before the pure cut of detergent. The cloud of Tide drifting before every tenement pulls me back. Again. Again.
There is no darkness deep enough to hide you. There is no spotlight bright enough to hold you. There is only me, sealing you with silver dollars, seeing you through smoke on water.
_____
If you liked even a bit of this poem, please check out Poppy's work. Especially her "Dear Narcissist" series! My poem grew organically, but I realized partway through that it was heavily influenced by her incredible work. This is one of my favorites:
About the Creator
Suze Kay
Pastry chef by day, insomniac writer by night.
Catch me here for spooky stories, crushable poems, and overall weird thoughts.
Or, let me catch you on my website!
Comments (6)
I do agree 'Poppy' is wonderful. Yours is also beautiful and so spelling binding.
Suze 'Q' ~ So Different ~ So Unique ~ So Pure Suze Jay, Vocal Village Community -
I crack it open for an easy grin that cracks me open. That line made me smile so much! Loved your poem!
Suze, you have created poetry from your words. So beautiful, descriptive and heartwarming.
Oh my gosh, I’m so so honoured. This is incredible Suze. The entire thing. “Here is the rippled gaze that undoes a seam on my sweater, and pulls and pulls.” Is such a gorgeous line but so is every single other one! Like each word and sentence just fits together like puzzle pieces, each one leading into the next so perfectly. I love the repetition of “blink; try again”. So much resigned emotion just in those three words. The way it comes full circle with “silver dollars” is so satisfying and the ending is wonderful too. Wow, this is a huge huge huge compliment that you feel it was inspired by my poems because I wish I could write something to this beautiful standard!!! Thank you Suze💛
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