Say it uncertainly/on the tag of a bouquet/with your tongue
tense behind your teeth/as a prayer/too early/unrequited/as
goodbye/to the foggy window of an airplane/to your mirror/like
a test/because they did/dishonestly/over a dozen roses/inside
your head/mouthed to their back/unheard/with your body/only
when you mean it/again/quietly on a lover’s cheek/like a story,
all-encompassing/at the altar/a thousand times/to the child you
share/as a blackout poem on legal paperwork/like an insult/with
your gun pointed at their chest/through shaking lips/holding an
urn/regretfully/between bars/into the darkness of a starless sky,
where only you can hear it/as your last breath:
I love you.
Poem originally published in volume 4 of Wilder Things at the University of Iowa (p. 15, 2023).
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