“New Love”

I am telling my hands
not to blossom into roses

I am telling my feet
not to turn into birds
and fly over rooftops

and I am putting a hat on my head
so the flaming meteors
in my hair
will hardly show

- Eve Merriam, from Fresh Paint (1986)


so,
i knew about
the blossoming roses,
& the birds over rooftops,
secrets & meteors & flame
but
nobody mentioned the clarity
of moral purpose
or the constant singing that fills my house.