Stay

Your foot slipped to clog the door.

Your warm hands held my waist.

Mascara speckled the sleeves of your hoodie,

dark blue and too big for you.

A cigarette perched on my chapped lip,

“Don’t stay mad,” you said.

 

The green hills turned to peach when the sun went down.

I ran from the house

in just a slip.

My bare feet trampled the hot pavement.

I ran faster into the clouds.

“I’ve never loved you more,” you yelled.

 

“Remember the fields in Kansas?” you asked,

catching me, carrying me back inside.

I remembered them swollen with hay and cows.

You kissed me till I stopped crying,

and pulled my dirty feet around your waist.

“Don’t run like that again,” you said.

 

The orange moon lit the all-night avenue

where you took me for cocktails that night.

The blue and red paint inside the rooms

tinted the blinds in the apartments on Bedford.

The TV’s laughed loudly into the street.

“Someone’s still awake,” you said.

The flickering 24-hour sign burned a weak red,

showing off a run down motel

with exposed bedrooms.

The lights turned fuzzy in the windows

on the walk back from the bar.

“Look, a stray dog,” you said.

 

The purple scarf that hugged my neck

was the color of Grandma’s walls,

where her pottery fell off the shelf

and shattered.

It crumbled like the tiny rose wallpaper behind her sink.

“It’s not your fault,” she said.

 

My glasses drip like I’m underwater,

but the cocktails swim warm in my stomach.

The raindrops make shadows

that we trace in the window reflections

of the deserted 2am street.

“Let’s get you dry,” you said.

 

The subway is a block away.

The cotton pops out of the seats like clouds

that I pick at with my nails when we hop on.

I lay my head on your shoulder

and you slip me a flask.

“We’re almost home,” you said.

 

The blankets in bed feel like fresh grass.

There’s baby’s breath on the floor of our bedroom

and it sticks to my toes.

The popcorn ceiling spins.

I can smell old coffee from the left-on pot.

“I’ve never loved you more,” you said.

Reviews

[jb]

Great job on this story! :)

[Dion [MFMDM]]

VERY DESCRIPTIVE !! I LIKE IT ! At first it reminded me of one of my poems called cohesion, however that thought changed after I started catching your descriptions back to back. Nice piece . You should upload some more ?

[Autumn Lyric]

well written, vivid and brassy!! I love the conversational approach in the poetic form.Thanks for sharing...