Portland

Written for a friend, given a "what if" kind of prompt.

Sometimes when you're sleeping

the crook of your knee gets damp

because it's been wrapped around mine for so long,

but I hesitate to move an inch

because you're so beautiful like that.

 

When I'm bored at school

I'll find things that remind me of you;

the curve of a chair's back

or the tube of lipgloss in my purse

that you always use before bed.

 

Each time I go shopping

I stop at every store I can find

trying to find a perfume that smells like you

when your hair is wet and your dress is clean

and you're sitting outside drinking coffee.

 

You have to leave sometimes and I miss you

as I fill in crossword puzzles on the porch,

so I'll trace the line on my collar bone

that you always kiss before we sleep

(without even noticing that I do.)

 

It rains so much here that I always joke

"You and Portland have so much in common,

you're always soaking wet."

and you laugh your wonderful laugh

as we stand under the pouring sky.

 

From now on, love,

it'll just be us,

our tea,

our dogs,

and our flowers.

Reviews

[Chad Halle]

i really, really enjoy this

[Wildecat]

Must say you have picked some interesting things to write about Sex, honey and the blue sky. And since I live about an hour from Portland I can realate to that too. Nice write.

[PianoandPage]

molly. beautiful poem here. love poetry is always a strange cursed thing. either it's too edgy or it's too mushy. lol.

this gave me a feeling of peace and deep connectedness. a sort of gentle obsession that we can all relate to.

favorite lines

"Sometimes when you're sleeping
the crook of your knee gets damp
because it's been wrapped around mine for so long,
but I hesitate to move an inch
because you're so beautiful like that." - you express a small idiosyncratic moment that lovers experience but rarely think or describe.

"so I'll trace the line on my collar bone
that you always kiss before we sleep
without even noticing that I do it." - the subconscious ways we acknowledge intimacy.

this is a really touching piece.

[Stephanie Skaggs]

This better be about Amanda, or I'm telling. :)

I dig it.