"Bird Nest" by Erren Kelly
Summers, I spent riding
The roller coaster at funtown in saco, maine
It was all wood, the last of its kind
I had my first lobster as well
Summer of 98, I took to new england
Like a foreign country
My first time far away from home
I joked you could walk the streets
For days before you saw another
Black face
You had only seen black people on t.v.
But we walked the streets
Like everyone else
Bottles of wine illuminated our moments
you said you didn't care what people
Did, as long as it wasn't in your bed
I didn't think girls stood as tall as you
You lay like an artist's model
On the couch, on summer days
With nothing on but the radio
I spent all winter lifting weights,
It was worth it, just to pick you up
Like raggedy ann and carry you
Across the threshold
At a barn in Farmington
You showed me a bird's nest
The eggs were dappled like
Mosaics
I stuck my fingers inside you
You tasted like copper pennies
I held in my mouth a long time or
Like rainwater
All summer, I spent stroking your
Hair like a tune