the life of a writer is desire
i hammer into the page
i make up my mind: the streetlight
is not the moon, but anything can be
made beautiful under the ease
of my hammer
i wish you could see that i write in blue ink
the color of oceans & early mornings
& everything is clear like
tears rushing towards the chin
of my desire. i pen what i’m meant
to pen. how deep in love i am
& how silly of me to spend all morning dreaming
about love & not expect my
desire to set me free
the knives of my fingers tap
out the notion that if i turn the key
it will unlock.
admittedly, i am foolish
about love—a simple yes excites me—
’cause i know that all that i require will be met
like water meets the tongue. it’s scary
desire, a small fan at my window in the summer,
a booklight lighting the pages of my life
Copyright © 2021 by Jalynn Harris. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on August 19, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.