Forte

I love you!
I love you!
I love you!

We are standing in
The kitchen
Crying and talking
In the third person
Because we are afraid.
We are afraid that
We have misread
Each other and that
A declaration of love
Will break us both.
You say it first
And when I kiss you
I taste Forever.

And Strawberries.

Astrometrics

We are a binary star system
Spinning around each other
And around us the others
Spin like tops-- brightly
Waltzing around-- but we
Are made of nothing.

And We Don't Care.

Ragdoll

We have wandered
The air-conditioned Mecca
That is the mall
Until we have seen
Every store at least twice
And still bought nothing.
You tell me to find
Your perfume
Because you are bored
And when I
Lean in
To smell
Your
Neck
You push me away
And say to loudly
"Stop fooling around!"

Red Light

"When we broke up--"
Pause.
Silence.
The first
Admission
That we
Were
And
Aren't
Anymore.

But you carry on
And finish the story
As if our eyes had not

met

Across the car

Remembering.

In The Bathrooms

Between classes
The girls by the mirrors
Are thin and blonde
Bronzed and made up
Like expensive models.
Against the walls
Eyes down
Not looking at
Mirrors or Models
The girls are pudgy
And curved like
Venus or Aphrodite.
They all disappear
Into the stalls
And wretch up
Cafeteria psuedo-food
But none of them
Hear each other.

Size 12P

They say I am Petite
Because they do not wish to say
That I am much too short.

They say I am a Plus Size,
Because they do not want to say
That fifty pounds less would be better.

My mother says the dress is beautiful
Because she does not want to tell me
That it needs to be three sizes larger.

The cheerleaders are honest
With the casual cruelty of cats
“Move it, Jumbo.”