New Poem for Old Love

by Marina Carreira

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your eyes are heavy-lidded
and you have eyelashes you don’t deserve

this is the first thing I notice in the morning

after years of mornings how your lips prune

from mouth breathing and your neck’s the back road

to my grandmother’s house how your hair stands

like a eucalyptus in the light and there’s a mole

I’ve never seen that excites me, something new

after years of studying the anchor body that’s held

back my boat from underwater canyons, unruly currents

shores riddled with refuse and wreckage I hold

your nose to wake you up it’s a terrible gesture

in lieu of a kiss you shake my hand off and turn

your face I lay comforted by the thought of the hole

in your pajama pants, portal to the most restful place,

where I learn nothing necessary but joy*, where after

so many years, resides there still, as a lake

 

 

*borrowed from Gwendolyn Brooks’ line “it was restful, learning nothing necessary”