and if
I were to say
I love you and
I do love you
and I say it
now and again
and again
would you say
parataxis
would you see
the world revolves
anew
its axis
you
From Same Life by Maureen McLane. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Copyright © 2008 by Maureen McLane. All rights reserved.
You walked in like the light From every sun that rose This year had exploded Symmetrically from your eyes I was uncertain—no I was certain I wanted your eyes to shoot Laser beams straight through me It was certain we were soon to be Bound by something mythological It was certain that when you moved The hair away from my mouth A locust in your eyes Moved farther afield It was uncertain if one day We would be saying I will not love you The way I love you presently It was certain we spoke The danger language of deer Moving only when moving Our velvet bodies in fear
Copyright © 2014 by Christie Ann Reynolds. Used with permission of the author. This poem appeared in Poem-A-Day on January 27, 2014. Browse the Poem-A-Day archive.