RUSSIAN WALLPAPER

Susan Smith Nash

 

 

Afternoon breeze comes in

if invited,

sheer curtains flutter,

if disquieted --

 

my heart

like paisley wallpaper

peeling but proud,

velvet fires

somewhere around my shoulder

somewhere a memory slipping away

 

I talk to you all night

the surface

smooth & sticky with spills

and conversations

just another bar

just another star

 

I've lost my way

under the moon & stars

navigating the southern breezes

the sheer curtains blur the tracks

I leave behind

our path stretching ahead

like a teardrop

sliding down a cloud

 

curtains flutter

when air is in motion

my hands hold you

when I feel emotion

trying to paste ourselves back

like Russian wallpaper

falling to the floor