Jennifer Patino

Hello, 37: A Birthday Poem

This year most of
the world walked
a bit in my
self-isolation moccasins

Understanding
isn’t something
I can grovel for

Yes, there are dark corners
to cling to

on a crumbling seawall
you wanna talk
ultimate dreams

There’s a way back to blue
& to you, but we couldn’t
remind you in time

The green of the air.
The scent of choking desert.

I want to call you up
and say that every
movie I watch lately
stars you.

Now my mouth doesn’t know what
my shadow is saying.

“The miracle wasn’t that the statues were crying;
It was in the amount of people who undoubtedly
believed that they were witnessing one.”

while deciphering spatter, I remember
your squinting, your pondering,
& the magnetics of twiddling fingers