Keepsakes

Photo by the author.

I gave him a scarf, three silver dollars,
a scrapbook, and an empty journal.
He gave me chocolate, six roses,
two orgasms; later,
a heart full of regret.
We traded one closet for the other,
exchanging clothing like some exchange vows.
Four memories of love’s declarations;
three spontaneous embraces; after some time
two lives broken:
one on either side.
We lay prone, the clouds descending from their
upwards realm
onto the mundane surface of our lives.

Originally published in in issue 30 (January 2011) of Red Fez.