I bind my old grievances
to a helium balloon. A long memory,
I have been warned,
is a curse. Everywhere I go, someone
has something they must say about you.
Nobody knows who we are. Wouldn’t you say,
nobody agonizes like we do.
Elsewhere
is a promise and a threat.
I have been proscribed
compassion of the wrong sort, and so
I am alone. I am
invisible within you. Seeking companionship
I spend my afternoons before the windows
of pet shops and strangers, trying
to decide. After all, I was told
I could have everything.
I thought this was meant to be
a romance: I was delivered here
in order to love you.
I was delivered here
and ordered
to love you. If we could be friends.
I wore this new dress for you.