Strawberries

Your condo’s for rent
I’m angry
I only just got my key

I’m standing in the front yard
Wild strawberries circle around my unevenly suntanned legs
I reach down and taste one
It’s sweet, like me
It’s bitter, like you

We embrace
Like it was just yesterday, our first
Inviting me to the midnight blue condominium where we grew basil on the fire escape and almost set the kitchen on fire
Multiple times
Blue – the color of constancy
Dependability and trust

Here I stand now, sacrificing the beauty of these small, delicate berries for my selfish desires
I chew and I swallow and you smoke by the Benz
Swimming across the ocean
Fading into black
Be right back, you say a million times until it starts to ring in my head like loudspeakers in a school setting

Come back to me
Don’t wilt
I’ll be here

Upright position
You tell me not to slouch
I run my fingers through your hair and you purr like a satisfied feline who’s got nothing but comfort in its soul
I want that for you because you deserve it
But the abstract plays a reduction technique within its own self and there’s no room for consolation

We wave goodbye from the Benz
I open the glove compartment and find my make-up bag
My Kohl eyeliner has melted and smeared in its plastic packaging
And I’m reminded that I’m still a piece of you
Mine mine mine is in yours yours yours
Safe to keep

We pick up fresh strawberries from a kind seller on the side of the road
Making our way to a locksmith for me to get my new key to your freshly sealed deal
The strawberries are dripping water and are lush
Too good to be true
They’re sweet, like me and you