After looking at Lip Readings

poetry

Jan 20

Written By BA

After looking at Lip Readings by Estefania Loret

By Abigale Tabor

I’m reminded of how many kisses are in I miss you

and how, without knowing, I love you looks violent—

a mixed message, blink one too many times

and you’ll miss it. I love you becomes I loathe you

or I loam you or I load you— lips can be deceiving.

I miss you; our sentences thick and palpable,

lips closing and opening, each new word coming

into one bigger conglomeration, but if I pause—

miss becomes myth, silent becomes solvent,

love becomes dove and the sentences trail off

and up and away into clouds of indifference

that end in a pair of residentiary closed lips.

Sweet Wine