the places where i imagine us

The Places In Which I Imagine Us




I'm not sure how many of them exist. 
Like that cabin in an unexplained clearing
in an island off the coast of Nova Scotia.
The fireplace sounding like a page
of sheet music being eternally crumpled,
as if to say to us: Sit down. Read a little.
The bed is made and we’ll make a bet
to see who gets to ruin its serenity
first. Then maybe I will kiss you.
Then maybe I will step in the shower
and explore the lengthy chapters
of the book of happiness. Then maybe
I’ll get out and lie down and whisper to you
the thousand feelings I cannot name
zipping around my body like molecules.
I will ask you to tell me a story
about your childhood, or ask you to look
outside at all the trees we don’t recognize.
All the colors we didn’t know existed.
All the while I cannot say where you are
in the cabin. Or outside of it.
I have stopped trying to imagine
the entirety of you. Or at least trying
to fit it into a poem. But still on rainy days
I catch myself dwelling there
on the drifting island of my heart, imagining
that somewhere, you are practicing
all the words you know for longing, as I am
doing in the language of poem,
very rarely spoken outside its country
of sorrow. But maybe happiness as it is,
and longing, and love, can make it.
Can be a good poem. Or maybe you have ruined me
exactly the way I wanted you to.

 


by Gian Lao