2019 Academy of American Poets Prize

Falling

by Nethra Rammohan


At first sight, it wasn’t love
It wasn’t lust
I simply shrugged and turned away

A month passed, and some things changed;
Trees that once stood tall and bore immobile green leaves
now danced to the melodies they had once shunned
And, oh, how the leaves blushed
when the wind tickled their skin

As more time went by,
I was convinced - love was in the air
Leaves fluttered and fell to the earth
as victims of Mother Nature’s charm
Almost sheepishly, I joined their bandwagon,
and fell hard for yours

I could never tell if you were making a move on me
You’d just look at me every now and then
And I’d look at you
Your eyes-
They looked like two blobs of coffee
in a cloud of cream
Your lips-
Every time you smiled, I’d see your cupid’s bow stretch
And wonder why Cupid wasn’t stretching his bow back far enough to shoot us both
a little more aggressively than he already had

The last time I saw you,
You walked the other way,
and that was the only move you ever made
that I completely understood


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