I Know What The Walls Would Say If They Could Talk

They would say

anita pelayo rivera les dames dabord

Because from top to bottom

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

left to right

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

inside 

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

and out

anita pelayo rivera les dames s'abord

 

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

my husband has

painstakingly hammered

permanently inscribed

his affection


with every timber, measured detail 

and stroke of his brush 

that reads 

like 

Are you fluent in the language 

a friend
a parent
a partner
a spouse
a neighbor

uses to communicate their admiration?

This should never end.

les dames d'abord

But it does.

And 

when this

 

les dames d'abord

les dames d'abord

les dames d'abord

les dames d'abord

withers into memory

I make my own

go here to hear how this is pronounced

with the help of friends. 

les dames d'abord

les dames d'abord

June has planted its petals

in the heart

les dames d'abord

that will bloom into

a July and August 

of 

childhood discovery

that never grows old

les dames d'abord

because

remains.

les dames d'abord

Thank you for being my model, Clara @Clarabelvintage

Thank you for being my friends in play Penny, Violet, The Dutchess, Irina, Clara, Vera, countless others who never stop searching.

Anniversary Waltz

It's your syncopated stomp
at daybreak chasing
the paycheck.
It's the well-rehearsed turn
of your key in the lock
every six o'clock.

It's this pas de deux
we do
to celebrate 34 years 
not floating on a cloud
but on worn and scored
earth beneath our odyssey.

Give me 12,410 more 
everydays
with you
rather than one still-life
bouquet of fragile promises.

les dames d'abord

les dames d'abord

les dames d'abord