The Poem That Started It All

Dear D,
You know the animation I made you? (Which in turn sort of inspired this blog?) Well it was inspired by Camille Beckman's poem:

Appetite (Postcards from Portugal)

“I learned another language. It translates easily.”

-Kate Marvin

Dear A—,

Bought you a present

at the Thieves’ Market.

Lost my purse shortly after—

strange new pleasure:

dropping change,

chasing foreign coins

among foreign shoe soles.

Lost my balance, too.

Newly bruised,

Z—

Dear A—,

Ate a late dinner

outdoors on white-tiled sidewalk

(thought of you and your crooked teeth):

half an order of spit-roasted

chicken, fried potatoes, a single beer.

Were you here,

we’d need an entire bird: we’d clean

the meat from her warm bones,

two vultures that we are.

Salt on my tongue—

Thirstily yours,

Z—

Dear A—,

I can barely see

the new moon

from my perch

atop this imperial park:

the treetops are cumbersome here.

And the earth’s shadow

wrapped around

that heavenly body:

the wings of a hungry fruit bat.

Z—

Dearest A—,

It’s a Clementine.

For not wrapping it,

Forgive me,

Z—

A—,

Ready for your square thumbs

and other eight fingers

to clumsily unpeel.

Stuck at customs, waiting,

Z—


Isn't it beautiful?
Love,
L