it’s difficult to put a leash on a hummingbird

Today I am going to pick you up at the beige airport. 

My heart feels like a field of calves in the sun. 

My heart is wired directly to the power source of mediocre songs. 

I am trying to catch a ray of sunlight in my mouth. 

 

I look forward to showing you my new furniture. 

I look forward to the telephone ringing, it is not you, 

you are in the kitchen trying to figure out the coffeemaker, 

you are pouring out the contents of your backpack. 

 

I wonder if you now have golden fur? 

I wonder if your arsenal of kind remarks is empty? 

I remember when I met you you were wearing a grey dress, 

that was also blue, not unlike the water plus the sky. 

 

They say it’s difficult to put a leash on a hummingbird. 

So let us be no longer the actuary of each other! 

Let us bow no longer our heads to the tyranny of numbers! 

Hurry off the plane, with your rhinestone covered bag 

 

full of magazines that check up on the downfall of the stars. 

I will be waiting for you at the bottom of the moving stairs. 

 

[Matthew Zapruder {1967- } 'Letter to a Lover', from Come On All You Ghosts]