shot glass
title
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Gregory Stapp


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Subjunctive

If I were Neruda I could be a lake,
thousand-armed and reaching out
for a lover's reflection and become a sea,
the sound of a sea's roaring tide
heavy breath on the sand coast thighs.

If I were Neruda I would be a lake,
take a thousand trees and a mountain
and swallow them until they were my arms
and legs and a cutting-plow chin,
embrace the sky like a distant lover.

If I am Neruda I should be a lake.
I should lie flat and open to the world
with a thousand-armed embrace,
welcome the mountain into my folds
pebble by pebble until I'm no longer sea.