IMAGINE! HIS LEFT HAND CRADLING MY HEAD, HIS RIGHT ARM AROUND MY WAIST! I CHARGE YOU, SISTERS: DO NOT AWAKEN LOVE UNTIL IT SO DESIRES
I tithe 10% of my new underwear to my future
self, the one who has fallen in love.
I hide it under my mattress. I forget
to fall in love. I live until my hair is long and white.
When I die, I stick around for a while.
My future self, undulating like a moon,
discovers my stash. I watch her smooth the lace
over her hips, over her moon and stars. She fans
her fingers and presses them against her belly, brushes the tip
of her thumb against a pink bow.
But has she fallen in love? I ask. Have you?
I ask
standing behind her in the mirror.
LEANNE DRAPEAU is a teacher and writer from Connecticut, USA. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and an MFA candidate at Randolph College in Virginia.