Teaching poem. At the end of the period, a student walked up and handed me the poem folded into a box. He understood my intent.
I Folded You
I folded your memory
many times in my mind and
I folded your heart too
pocketing it alongside mine.
I folded your eyes so
you would see two or more of me
and still you missed my hungry stares.
I folded your skin like parchment
and wrote about our love.
I folded your pain in half and
I folded the past too but it
trapped us in an envelope.
I folded your body like a paper house
and we lived and dreamed like
birds in a fuzzy nest.
I continued to fold our love like delicate
origami papers and wondered
where you were and why you
did not want to fly anymore.
I folded and folded you
but you were beyond
the crease of happiness
already glued to the pages
of another man’s heart.
Published August 14, 2012