Amelia Carter
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#MeToo
i’m sorry that you’ll have to be so gingerly in touching me
because he came before and touched me there
and there and there too // he came and he took everything
except for the word “there” a word torn between
where I want to go and where you cannot touch
not yet not now maybe not ever //
but i have healed just a little bit in the six years since
and i realize he left me my feet
maybe because he saw how they froze my whole body
and left one last bit of hurt behind ///
nobody cares about the feet not really since they lack the value
of a thigh or a breast // and now mine are just jewelry
behind a case locked away after he broke in //
now you can only look and long for them
at arm’s reach // if i could give them up to you i would
but i’m afraid of flinching at your touch and you hating me
for a pre-programmed response // a rogue line of code //
of saying the wrong thing when my lips are closed ///
I would not blame you if you slipped out the door
while i lied alone half-naked in my half-empty bed
because i am damaged goods // the broken egg in the dozen //
but i cannot bear to be alone anymore
not when i have held you at arm’s reach // for so long
Stay-at-Home Lovers
I miss you now more than ever, I think,
because I have to stay away--the thought
of us apart so long makes my heart sink
like anchors through the sea. I know there’s not much I can do, and I don’t dare push, but
I ache to just be next to you, these days.
I ache for cooking dinner out of what
we bought that day, for finding out new ways
to spend a lazy Sunday, for one more
touch from your fingertips. I can’t seem to remember how they feel on my skin or
when I felt them last. God, how I miss you.
Some day, if the world manages to mend,
then I’ll stay by your side until the end.
Poet Biography
Amelia Carter is a recent college graduate who makes time for writing poetry whenever she can. This is her first publication.