a valentine's day poem for my wife

listen! you say, & i’m trying.

i really am. trying to work on the long pause

supposing there’s more, sounding the unsaid.

& so I wait.

maybe there are better ways to make this exchange,

& perhaps there are different sounds we can form,

rarer blessings, fuller words, less worn entreaties.

if there isn’t more below the surface

emptiness becomes our song, & we the poorer for it.

volume isn’t the solution either –

a cascade of words, of promises; a

numbing list of what we will or won’t

value. so this is important.

let my love be known as these words rest

in your hand, eye, heart.

eat them, and nestle them in your body.

then, tell them back to me. i’m listening.