I need to
make it to
Tuesday
for poetry
so I turn
myself into
a wall
and become
brick
metal
concrete
and sharp
corners
Herewalls don’tbreak
Someonesomeone
returned Zenobia’s second letter
and my notebook
and one pencil
I open to a blank page
and for the first time
I don’t know what words
to write
I don’t know what lines
to bend into curves and shapes
so I start with her name
Zenobia Angel Garrett
and even as the lights go out
I draw myself a girlfriend
I start with what I remember the most
Zenobia’s eyes
then her long blue braids
then
her angel wings
and I wishI wish
she would come alive from off my page
just like my father did
from off the wall
And she does
There’s a breeze in the room
all of a sudden
It’s an angel’s wings
come to wrap around me like warm arms
Her eyes light up the darkness
and we hold hands
Then I hug her and pull her close, close
and it’s just me and my angel girlfriend
made of soft charcoal lines
curved and rounded
at just
the right
places