STAYING FOR SOMETIMES

By Elizabeth Shanaz

A man who once had me

told me through a glare I once found sexy,

breathy on my neck,

“if you ever cheat on me,

I will break your legs.”

I remember my heart feeling soft.

I remember dopamine caressing my nerve endings.

I remember kissing him sweetly saying, “baby, never.”

But I cannot remember what unhealed part of me

mistook this for home.

I remember that I wanted him more than

I needed my limbs. Because

sometimes when he forgets he is a man, he

presses his cheek into my belly, begs me to stay.

Sometimes he forgets he is a man and cries

mid-stroke, tells me God made it just for him.

Sometimes he forgets he is a man and he

changes his mind.

Sometimes he forgets he is a man and he finds me

in a poem, in a cloud’s handiwork, in a bouquet of orchids

he forgot to buy.

Sometimes he forgets he is a man

and reads my manuscript real quick. Nibbles my

ear and calls me Rawaan, not because he thinks I am evil

but because he swears I have ten brains.

And when he remembers he is a man again, he paints

purple watercolors on my arms,

reminds me of my legs.

Until I drift to sleep, dreaming of Rawaan

stealing me away to Lanka.

#darkpoetsclub