Golden Horses

Love is All - Suzanne Highland

From buildings painted grey and blue like wedding spoons,

we fell out like teeth. How desperate of it to stick, to become 

the aftertaste of itself, this love. The dog wags himself out 
of your daughter’s arms. We holed up with boxes, without hangups, 

putting the animal down. We let eyelet curtains turn to ghosts. 
In the old movies, someone smiled wide through their tears

and was received like a parade of pageant girls. But we just cry, 
inglorious, ever the picture you never noticed in the living room.

The slogan of lovers is briefly debated. Stage fright, someone says, 
nailing their hand to the wall. Forgiveness, says another. 

And there is a pause. It is enough. Pages curl away into nothing, 
you hold onto your breath and my coat. There is a pause. It is. 

***

Suzanne is a poet from Florida. She received her BA in Creative Writing from Florida State University in 2011, under the tutelage of Erin Belieu and Robert Olen Butler, and has been living and writing in Buenos Aires, Argentina ever since. Her blog can be found at aprettywar.tumblr.com and her nonfiction travel blog at bbbaires.tumblr.com.