The bald air between us has nowhere to go,
presses its weightless body to
the ridge of your chipped tooth.
What remains in the trace
breath of our
exchange?
Possession
and bed frames.
I forget places
have names:
orange couch with
the water stain, Fire Island,
a cot with your spit on
the pillowcase.
Words without an
attic room, no peephole
wide enough to spy
the silver gears
that keep us
apart. Cogs
creak with
warmth,
from use
and yearning.
Swollen want,
a faint
symptom
of lost time
Click here to read Sofia Bagdade on the origin of the poem.
Image by Tanya Prodaan on unsplash.com, licensed under CC 2.0.
Sofia Bagdade:
Poetry is a glass that allows me to peer at the fine webs of detail that hang between people and moments. This piece began while watching someone I love laugh. The sun struck a ridge on their front tooth, and I realized how many times I’d watched them full-mouth laugh, yet never noticed the beauty of this small detail. I adore all the oddities and stretches of a person that only spring to life in proximity. When these images wedge into my memory, writing lets them unspool like plastic film. I write to feel close.
Sofia Bagdade is a poet from New York City. Her work appears in One Art, The Shore, and Roi Fainéant Press, among other publications. More of her work can be found at sofiabagdade.weebly.com. She finds joy in smooth ink, orange light, and French Bulldogs.
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