it's easier to admire the past
when covered with a film
of dust
on film
i have captured ingenuity on camera
you fell a long way from the dining room table
and into my bowl of soup

from the dining room table
a trickle of wine
bleeds through the years
and inspires my father
who listens to my poems
on his way to work

the work they've put into preservation
melts me down into a stained glass fingerprint
an eyelash caught in a tippity tap typewriter
a type of person i could never be with all this... stuff
but for the record
you are the music i'd love to dance to
and for the moment
we are timeless

we are all made of the dust
that glistens in the sun between the rafters;
caressing the picture frames and photographs
and art that birthed my mother
a single tear kisses the words of her daughter
and we forget to wonder:
who will inherit such a design?

i want to give you my sweater
and maybe one day
my skin

my nails, my hair
"maya, stop pulling at your hair."
"maya, stop pulling at these loose strands, it's a bad habit."
"maya, stop grasping at stranglers and strangers, you look psychotic."

but i swear we all look for eyes in the rearview mirror
and i swear when you met every portrait in your homes
fell to each other like dominoes
listen, i've been running my soles against these
loved hardwood floors
watching someone grow up on these
loved western walls
and i forget that love is more than a shell of our miracles and traditions
that love can sway and swell
that i am young enough to toss the word "love"
into casual conversation
and retrieve it years later,
totally transformed

please hold,
i want to capture ingenuity on camera
you fell a long way from my bedside table
and into my poem

i want to give you my skin
and maybe one day
my sweater

what i'm saying is that you put my hope in preservation,
that you've melted me down into a stained glass masterpiece,
that you keep me glancing back at my tippity tap typewriter
a type person i romanticize myself to be
and for the record,
you are the music i've always danced to
and for the moment,
you are beside me

and i am finally old enough to say
that just like them,
just like everyone else,
i love