how to love without forgetting where it came from

 

for Quetzo.

Did you look up tonight?

see that thick moon curved into the sky                                              notice

it will go away if you forget

notice the smell she leaves inside magazines

the shape she makes when pressed against red-linen’d mattress

her bone structure                              

Eastern European lineage

her thumb                                      slung into bent silver

her appetite                  she forgets to eat lunch sometimes

notice the dent against her skull

when boys pushed her down because she was too                  homo

notice her heels           frozen oceans cracked against feet

hair           detangled due to boredom and persistence

her hipbone            

chin          

freckles that gather in the summertime and worry the cancer                                  

                                                 notice her push                    press of salt and blood against western earth

notice her grow into thunders

(notice the earth take notice of what it looks like for a moon to exist               down here)