Leftovers

What is supposed to happen with leftover love?
perhaps you keep it between your teeth,
until it explode in the mouth,
shutting off words.

What do I do with the need to meet you under the sheets?
perhaps I should keep it between my underwear and my sex,
until I change my clothes change and it slips down my legs,
tumbling into the washing machine,
ending up as lint in the dryer.

Perhaps I could put it in a take home container,
store it in the fridge,
until I decide to throw it away,
along with rotten apples and past due milk.

Blue woman in the window

There is a woman standing on the window ledge,
her fingers are frozen,
the gray sky of December is locked in her skin.

She smiles,
all blue,
all cold.

There was a woman standing on the window ledge,
falling on the sidewalk,
blue woman snow flakes.

Lawn sprinklers

I spent hours hunting for the perfect gift,
maybe a Victoria Secrets bra,
flowers,
chocolates,
a thoughtful card,
singing Happy Birthday in my best voice
or maybe a romantic dinner,
something that is not burned.
So much effort to find the perfect gift,
the weeks planning how to amuse you,
if I knew being attacked by your lawn sprinklers
and leaving a wet gift on your door
would make you smile,
I would have done that in the first place.

Fireworks

You are my fireworks
the amusement at the beginning
…the burning gunpowder at the end.

Bolero

Bolero, Poetry and Absence

Bolero Ausencia
-Composed by Rafael Hernández

“Cuando se apartan,
dos corazones,
cuando se dice adios para olvidar,
dicen ausencia...”

The absence jam-packing the space,
filled before with your laugh,
absence is this pressure suffocating me,
because I don’t know what to do with the days.

“Te llevo conmigo,
para que olvides,
para que no sufras más..”

More sad traces on your countenance, lover of routines,
rules, kings
more sadness in those eyes i only dare to look at,
in my memory.

“y lejos,
pero muy lejos,
vuelan los pensamientos,
y tristes,
como un lamento,
son los suspiros
del corazón.”

A heart that doesn’t believe in promises,
choked with the wait,
simply massacres the faith.

“Ausencia tu que pensabas con él,
alivia,
mi pena,
ausencia,
me has engañado,
y lo mucho que he llorado,
no lo puedo olvidar,”

Forget everything,
even the totem name I gave you in tenderness,
forgetting you,
remembering,
singing to you,
alone,
with your absence.

Bolero, poesía y ausencia

Bolero Ausencia
Compuesto por Rafael Hernández


“Cuando se apartan,
dos corazones,
cuando se dice adios para olvidar,
dicen ausencia...”

Ausencia es lo que atiborra el espacio
Que antes llenaba tu risa,
Ausencia es esta presión que me asfixia
Porque no sé que hacer con los días.

“Te llevo conmigo,
para que olvides,
para que no sufras más..”

Más trazos tristes en tu semblante de mujer amante de las rutinas,
Reglas, mores, reyes.
Más tristeza en esos ojos que sólo me atrevo a mirarlos de frente,
En el recuerdo.

“y lejos,
pero muy lejos,
vuelan los pensamientos,
y tristes,
como un lamento,
son los suspiros
del corazón.”

Corazón que ya no cree en mis promesas,
Que se atragantó de tanta espera,
Que sencillamente masacró la fe.

“Ausencia tu que pensabas con él,
alivia,
mi pena,
Ausencia,
Me has engañado,
Y lo mucho que he llorado,
No lo puedo olvidar,”

Olvidar todo,
Hasta el nombre totémico que te di muerta de ternura,
Olvidarte,
Recordarte,
Cantarte,
Sola,
Con tu ausencia.

Toe

To Rho

With each breeze of the calendar,
I miss you less.
The way things are going
by January I will only remember the tip of your toe.