After Reading Sappho
BY AZA PACE
I can’t say I’ve ever been slender fire.
Tell me you are a pine
reaching to skim the blue,
and I’ll be rainwater, rainwater.
*
A red-winged blackbird
shrugging his glory by the lake,
and us, noticing him.
*
At night, we remember the day
and make constellations of our freckles,
even the bright red ones
that pop up with a kiss
like we’re not young anymore.
*
Who dances in the kitchen?
Who dances inside your chest?
*
I put tenderness in my fingertips.
I dip them in violets like satin,
all practice for your lips.