hold lightly this cherishing

 

it turns my insides to golden candies cradled in a boyish hand 

that longs for a girl in the third grade

 

if it’s only my mind, another eager thing of majesty and whim, 

I give up trying all I give up trying to give

 

and in the music alone,

I will worship a kindness I’ve never really known

 

I saw the stars give him their light at the end of an empty theater last year

 

my legs open

my heart struck dumb

 

the ghosts watched as I lost my body to the privacy of the boards below his voice

 

I hear your steps on the other side of the grain

 

the sound of God needled to your shoulder

and never on a wall in a village den

 

I wanted to be her, and this night, I am

​

June 2018

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