Poem of the Week, by Brynn Saito

The Palace of Contemplating Departure

- Brynn Saito

You wandered through my life like a backwards wish

when I was ready for deliverance.

I was ready for release

like a pinball in God’s mouth

like charanga on Tuesdays

like the summer in Shanghai

when we prayed for a rainstorm

and bartered our shame, then we tore open oranges

with four dirty thumbs.

And the forecast said Super

so we chartered a yacht

and we planted a garden on the unbending prow

but the sea said Surrender

with its arms full of salt, and wind shook the seeds

from our shirt coat pockets

so when we washed up on the shoreline of sunlight

near the city of wind

we were broken and thin, like wraiths at a wake.

But you tilted your head up and told me I was wild

so I lifted my life

and I lifted your life

and we wandered through the gate of radiant days

then we married our splendor

in the hall of bright rule.

And I thank you again: you gave madness a chance

and you lassoed the morning

and we met on a Tuesday

in a dance hall in Shanghai

and I left you in a leap year for the coveted shoreline

and you wept like a book when it’s pulled from a well.

But you were the one who told me I was wild

and you were the one who wrestled the angel

and I knew when I left you

that courage was a choice

and memory, a spear,

and the X of destination is etched on my iris

and shifts with the seasons—

don’t think of the phoenix, think of the mountain.

But where will I go now with my tireless wonder?

And when will I again be brave like that?


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For more information on Brynn Saito, please click here: http://brynnsaito.com/

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