across the pond

I woke up today
with more self-love than usual

it was coming from my womb

I had been dreaming
of mutilation
scissors snipping off my nose
and other such things

after he and I finally decided
we were too precious not
to reproduce

With him gay,
we came up with a concoction
for how to do it
but people on the street
money-hungry,
figured us out
before we could do it

I woke up,
bathed,
and decided
maybe he would
want me to contact
him

still feeling the scissors' snips
I re-placed everything
decided
on what's settled
what's settled
across the pond

there is some sort of reflection
not to be seen
but if the fish
can feel
that swirl of love again
that was given from
so many boat rides
so many days spent
sunning

forget the hooks
the hooks of dangly worms
that seemed to come
from the best crocheted hands

people once thought steamboats
were earthquakes, too

i watched my nephew,
at 7, use mickey mouse
as his character
to get him through foreign lands
i wondered if, how, wii
would ever afford
such an expedition

my womb calls my name from
inside the
pearly gates
to rice
sticky in the morning
washed gently by hand
until the gluten
dusted away
shines not so brightly
as the pearls,
steamed, seasoned
makes his perfect
breakfast
that food, ranking
just behind strawberries

strawberries
meant the world to me
melted my grandma's skin
into welts

ann
has poison ivy
that she must first explain
at a family gathering
is not contagious
on her skin

i fell asleep with her
while watching
employee of the month
as entertaining as it was
watching them zip around
the showroom floor

there is something missing
when you keep wondering
what kind of employee you are
wake with scissors snips

yet the love must reawaken
even from across the pond
even if wii can't afford
the next years together
the craving of my womb
the craving of the kind of love
i (gave)

it is in the water
somewhere
to be danced with the rice,
the pearls,
the fish who still swim
and see hope
in the glimmer of light
above

let the birds sing
this morning
sniff the air,
sweet kyla,
it is a new day
for all the things
that will come
even as we keep
our own pearls
apart
for this string

btw, blt

let's
ketsup
soon.

like a mosquito
they promised to visit
a bunny clad bowl in hand

the bunnies were boppin
topsy turvy
until the scurvy and the mersa
ate all their flesh
have mercy

i've been blessed with a bladder
the gall of a ladder
so many books to scale

the fish taps cotton
on his buffalo shirt
pink skirts the background
a shirt of blue fish

I could have your descendants
but would they be black enough

could we still link
in international orange
if I buy a watercolor set?

I eat salsa
like my Irish ancestors
discovered
the tomato sauce
first and maybe maybe mostly in restaurants

i bring it home
fresh
from Wal-Mart
where I spoke with
him in Spanish
had the nuance
to cue senorita
even though I could've
been a mujer