Aerie InternationaL - Missoula County Public Schools

natasha joyce weidner
san francisco, california, usa
ConverSAtIonS About love
1.
Graham sells
lavender and strawberries
at the farmer’s market.
One day he told me
he planned to drive
a diesel-powered RV
through all the national parks
because that was his dream
and dreams
are the best plans.
I replied,
my heart is a silent
redwood forest,
growing upwards in my chest.
And I don’t know what it wants.
2.
Why am I not in love?
I asked Naomi.
I mean, I might be
a tender nectarine
almost past ripeness.
Natasha, she said,
your skin is not the limit
of your self.
There is love
in other places.
You are inhaling it.
You are growing it
in your garden.
The two of us
proceeded to make calzone
in the warm
pink shell
of our home,
while outside,
cold rain fell
fondly
on the welcoming black earth.
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