eyesofIris

You always took Park Place,
cobalt tile weighted by your viridian buildings
and crimson hotels.
Meanwhile,
I stumbled over the borderlines and railroad tracks,
toppled over Baltic.

i’m young & inconsolable.
i slip from your infinity-pool mind &
catch my toes on tiles while you skin an apple alive,
curved crimson rind turned to crumpled core.

        time wrinkles with no warning        i was 5 years old running through sprinklers 
gleefully staining my mouth bright red with cherry popsicles        in a blink i was 10 years old

like vanilla bean freckles on your cinnamon hands, i followed the constellations left by saffron strands. i drank lattes every morning when you were gone.

(listen to episode 30, part 2 of Line Break to listen to how this poem was inspired by a line that amaryllis wrote, and to listen to her poem that was inspired by one of my lines!)