Sacred Sands

Defenestration by Marissa Nicosia,

I really should apologize

                The sounds was horrid when he hit the ground.

It shouldn’t have been funny.

My watch stopped sometime –

                I did not notice.

The first time I heard the word I laughed –

                It was so sinister.

She lit my cigarette.

                ‘allow me’

                ‘why,thank you’

I don’t think he’s coming back –

                I suppose its my fault; where do you draw the line?

‘Defenestration’

‘It sounds like castration’ she said.

‘Like “fenetre” – window’ he had said.

She told me she saw a bed in the flooded river.

I told her I woke up with poems on my arm again.

                ‘friction is your friend.’

He had attempted t explain to me.

                He practiced the art of telling lies –

                Turning women into poems, leading them into rivers.

He deserved it.

                ‘you did what?’

               

                ‘threw him out the window.’

                ‘how?’

                ‘I’m strong’

                ‘how did you get so strong?’  he had asked.

                ‘swimming in the river.’

                ‘you survived?’

                ‘apparently.’

It shouldn’t have been so funny –

                I threw daffodils down afterwards.

She held open the door.

                ‘allow me’

                ‘thank you’

I admit it –

                I told lies as well.

                ‘where did you say you were from again?’

                ‘san fransisco, but I was born in London.’

                ‘really?’

I almost fell off a terrace once –

                It must have been like that.

                ‘did he deserve it?’

                ‘yes, maybe – got a light?’

                ‘allow me’

                ‘it sounded a lot better until I was about to say it to him’

                ‘always does’

                ‘I shouldn’t be allowed to speak’

There won’t be much of my soul left to steal at this rate –

                I remember him saying something like that, once.

                ‘spring cleaning’

                ‘honestly?’

                ‘no, its because my watch stopped’

                ‘what’s that pocket watch about?’ he had asked.

‘its my biological clock. ‘

‘what time is it?’

‘its stuck at five to ten.’

‘no, its because I was on a train once – no , because I

saw laurel trees in Tivoli’

I am incapable of loving anyone, clearly.

                ‘how could you laugh?’

                ‘wouldn’t you?’

I dove into the river to chase the bed –

                I was sick for a week.

‘it sounds so sinister’ she lit another cigarette.

                 ‘I really should apologize, but I don’t know

                 how I can now’

I should not be allowed to speak.

                ‘allow me to buy you another, love’

                ‘I should apologize’