A flamingo of a man in a pink-blush tux<\/p>\n
plunked a single piano key repeatedly<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
for nearly an hour.<\/p>\n
By the end of the evening<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I heard such gorgeous silence<\/p>\n
and sobbed. My mind<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
was in brambles and the notes he pecked<\/p>\n
all hatched like eggs at once.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Every flap, every cheep<\/p>\n
became your name and I became<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
a mockingbird. I said your name<\/p>\n
as if I were your brother and just caught<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
you snooping in my desk<\/p>\n
for the cigarettes I kept hidden.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Then I said your name<\/p>\n
with the reverence of a child<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
learning his mother existed<\/p>\n
as before-mother for the first time,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
reconciling one identity with another.<\/p>\n
Now I say it like we just met,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
introduced by a mutual friend<\/p>\n
we later admit we never liked.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019m trying to commit<\/p>\n
the syllables to memory<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
without making it obvious. Hi, <\/em><\/p>\n it\u2019s nice to meet you. It\u2019s nice <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n to see you again. Hi.<\/em> It\u2019s so nice. Your name.<\/p>\n I say it so often it loses meaning<\/p>\n <\/p>\n the way cotton candy dissolves<\/p>\n so humbly and quickly<\/p>\n <\/p>\n into a glass of water but the water<\/p>\n is delightfully altered, and I don\u2019t remember<\/p>\n <\/p>\n your face anymore<\/p>\n but you\u2019re in the swirl,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and I drink and drink and<\/p>\n stay, please, with me, I am chapped,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n chirping, I\u2019m spun, oh sugar, oh<\/p>\n sweet, your<\/p>\n <\/p>\n name, oh your name, your<\/p>\n sweet, invisible name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A flamingo of a man in a pink-blush tux \/ plunked a single piano key repeatedly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6714,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6710","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n