You hurt my feelings
I say to the trees. You never
ask me how I am I whisper
to the breakfast taco, before
an indelicate but determined bite.
I miss you, I confront
the chair in the stranger’s yard.
Your strong + silly arms. Your sin-sturdy legs.
Why don’t you me I embroider
in green thread onto a yellow t-shirt
on sale (jk I don’t do that. I pur-
chase bananas and toothpaste). Oh,
is this where you go? I murmur
to my car, who has a secret name.
Can you hear me? I gesture
mutely to the parking lot. The trees
do not answer; they’re trees,
and know better.
Copyright © 2023 by Tarfia Faizullah. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on August 1, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.