Jason Edwards

Somewhere Far Beyond This Place

Soft platinum curls upon your face
Ysatis in the curve of your neck
No one smelled like you in Givenchy on Christmas
High Heels kicked off
Placed beneath the tree with packages
You and me drunk on mulled wine
Sharing a toast at Christopher’s famous Christmas party
Your last holiday season

Well sis can’t say you’ve missed much in 2020
No one to do your hair
There are people dying in hospitals and in the streets
Me and Matty are staying in for Christmas
No one’s seeing each other
Not even most families
O simpatico
My partner in crime
Can you feel the mustangs galloping in my chest?
There are angels around me whispering in my ear

Your heart is a fragile muscle

If I wanted to, I could rush towards you
All I’d have to do is step outside and breathe

On Christmas Eve I will fall asleep to Malcolm in the Middle
held in my husband’s arms
I will probably tell him I’m missing you
But honestly

I’m missing everybody

Next Christmas I’m going to walk up to perfect strangers and say hello
Ask them right to their faces how they are really doing
Fill my lungs–

with crisp–

clean–

air

Splintering

Hurling broken tortoise shells at a full moon

Chirping transistors buzz to the rhythm of crickets

Cherry blossom branches weave themselves through a young girl’s yellow dress

Running barefoot through freshly cut grass

Swimming naked in a mirror

Lightning illuminates raindrops on a pale blue shutter

Dazzling sapphires on deep purple velvet in a grandmother’s maple wood box

Two boys holding hands in a roller rink

A post card made of lemon drops sent from Saturn

An orgasm cried out in the middle of the night

A grown man weeping at broken hearted silent film stars

Your first kiss

Your first love

Your first everything