from Tonight, A Woman
BY ASA DRAKE
Asked not to put language in the garden, I could not.
Tonight, a CNN reporter was arrested when an officer refused to hear her
credentials. He repeatedly asked Do you speak
English. Now I fear I may be told
I speak nothing.
Ignore everything I have said about care. I say it twice to negate. I have heard
someone I love speak around someone I love, like English is a sieve for catching
one another’s cruelty.
Catch and hold.
If people keep saying they love me, maybe they love me and don’t know what
else to say.
The earth is an emotional wreck.
The earth is Eden + sin.
We are alive in an era of firsts we don’t recognize. A co-worker takes an ugly
photo of me in my favorite dress, and I have no redemption arc. Only a lovely
speech pattern.
I had tried to say something about the garden. I had tried to say something
about myself.
Plants that grow like weeds are popular cultivars. And of course we know the
aftermath.
This isn’t said enough; I have chosen my loneliness.
