Poetry

On Thursday, we are supposed to bring in a poem and piece of art to class that we want to write about. However, I wont be in class that day so I have decided to do it now instead.

dear love,

BY BARBARA JANE REYES

you dream in the language of dodging bullets and artillery fire.

new, sexy diagnoses have been added to the lexicon on your behalf

(“charlie don’t surf,” has also been added to the lexicon on your behalf).

in this home that is not our home, we have mutually exiled each

other. i walk down your street in the rain, and i do not call you. i

walk in the opposite direction of where i know to find you. that we

do not speak is louder than bombs.

 

there are times that missing you is a matter of procedure. now is

not one of those times. there are times when missing you hurts. so

it comes to this, vying for geography. there is a prayer stuck in my

throat. douse me in gasoline, my love, and strike a match. let’s see

this prayer ignite to high heaven.

 

This picture was taken by my cousin, Jen Hawk. She is a young, talented photographer. I really like this picture because it shows trauma without the gore. It does a really nice job at foreshadowing a future full of hate, sadness, and pain. But at the edge of the hallway, there is a light. This light represents hope for these three refugees. 

The poem is about broken love. The two subjects are separated, perhaps not by choice, and to me, it sounds like one is calling out to the other. 

I put these two pieces together because I feel like the poem could be the man, calling out to his lover, the girl in the picture. They are apart because of societies mistakes, but he wants to remind her that his love still remains intact.