In Love

VYVY TRINH

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in love you will learn the deep privacy of pain
how to protect a grief by swallowing it
how to call upon the dead in her life
and fall in love with them, with her, again, again
how to lay them to rest again, again

in love you will learn secret economies
three words become a thousand if rarely spoken
seven hours in an airplane is small change
for a one night tucked into her form, moon’s light
shining, at last, upon your shared silence

 

in love you will learn gestures
soup prepared in the tradition of the ancestors
for rain-drenched days that slice her raw,
leave you both splayed and open, regrets undressed.
a handhold, tight, in the blue of night
surprise! parties for the friday before a birthday
serenades, sugared
a rose, a bear

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and in love you will learn the opposite of gestures
the things you do because she is not looking
like stroking her hair as she sleeps
like closing the blinds
sitting tall
praying
weeping.

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