M. Dae
Grace Notes
Rock steady hip to hip
to a clearing I made appear behind a trailer hitch
all the ways we tangled in blacksod and straight slices of grass
and snapping around with that look on your face. Say it again, like I asked the question.
When you stuttered that love cannot begin in a pyrex breakfast casserole
and I called bullshit because you love spicy cinnamon buns and there are never any left -
A pendulum swinging between grateful and gun-shy. That's how I loved you,
cards of cliches and Patroclus suiting up for his man because it's just what you do.
Somewhere in your chest the old orchid is rising and I am steadfast.
I will re-learn your patterns, your breaths, your heartbreaks
make a map against my own and see if we can road-trip it out west this summer.
I want you to zip across the universe brief and reckless as a comet because
I know how going fast makes you smile. And you know that I can't help but linger on your
mouth at the edges. There are roots here in my ripe center that you can always return to.
I will lift the water from the scattered half-full glasses you never put in the sink,
keep my eyes trained on dogwood opening four-fold ivory.
Bio
M. Dae is an artist and writer originally from Gilbert, South Carolina. Her first short film Far Enough is in post production and will be released in 2019. She writes poetry, films and plays. She currently resides in New York City with her cat (who is a Hufflepuff to her Slytherin).