In the Romantic Longhand of the Night

Let’s kneel on gravel, take apart the lace 

of fruit, and blade the wool of gracious lambs      

who kiss hard and eat the changing face

of meadows.  Late, the lark’s a con of hands

that frowns aloud, spinning a tale free of green.

Let’s break into picnics on the phone,

befriending boys who crack safes and win

ribbons for pigs that curry in the grain.

Let’s soap each face that’s locked in a bathroom

and slip in a letter written in the night’s romantic

longhand.  Let’s fake it the right way, costumed

in the right light for the wrong person. 

We say we aren’t, but we’re seeking the tricky

algorithm of travel, boys who wager swans first, 

surviving on cobwebs and capture.

“In the Romantic Longhand of the Night” was first published in Indiana Review, Latino & Latina Writers Issue, Summer 2006.