your smile
july 1, 2010
The way your smile spreads is irreconcilable
Indescribable
I’ve tried to catch it on camera
So many times
And there are these words, hiding out in the bottoms of my shoes where I store my money when I
Don’t have pockets. And there are these thoughts that rattled around in my head like the clothes
In my suitcase when I’m camping out somewhere. And there is this beauty, and I see it in myself
When you come around and say lovely , lovely and I see it in you when your smile spreads like
Pancake batter over the griddle of your face, and it’s all baking in the heat of the sun. I have
Tried so many times that it’s ridiculous. Chalking up my metaphors and similes and petty
Figures of speech. Your smile is equal to none of them; none of them could ever equal
Your smile. Your smile is like a secret plot to get out of jail, it’s like sneaking out late
At night when the clock is just past midnight and my sister’s sleeping like a tulip.
It’s feeling the beat in my bones while I walk past the clubs with my feet bare
On the pavement, still warm from the day’s smile. Your smile could be the
Day, for all I know. For all I care. It breathes like dawn and I have never
Seen it broken. I saw it broken once. It was when you were singing
To me, about my intelligence and I was laughing it all off. I had
My camera out. I was watching the grains of wood in the
Picnic table and giggling by the campfire. I flashed a
Grin at you and your smile came slowly, like a
Miraculous sunrise of phoenix feathers and
Blood cells over this mountain range. I
Saw the birds beginning to sing and
It was so small, so short because
You looked back down at your
Song and remembered that
I was not yours. I will
Never be yours. It
Does not keep
Me from
Writing
Poems
About
Your
Smile.
1 year ago