Rachelle Toarmino
You Up?
you up?
you think food would taste different
if you ate it underwater? how long you
think magic hour lasts for on Neptune?
what do you think cellulite would look
like on fish? can you believe olives are
a fruit? you ever notice that OM is, okay,
yes, the sound of the universe, but also
the sound literally every little kid makes
when speaking into a fan?
you up? you ever think about how
English maybe isn’t our first language?
the way I’m sitting right now is my
first language. the way I bring my
hand to your jaw line is my first language. the
way I become movement inside
your hands is my first language.
you up? did your mom ever make you
talk to shit? my mom imbued life into
every corner and crumb of my small
world, and now as an adult woman
my heart breaks every time I find
an empty snail shell, or for the worms
on rainy mornings who aren’t going
to have enough time to make it to
the other side of the driveway.
you up? you ever feel like when you
fall in love it’s just this feeling of having
known someone before, but also of
wanting to find out how much time you can
kill counting the pockets and handles you
can make together with your bodies? there’s
the age-old that goes love is forgetting
about death, but when I’m with you
I also forget about the internet.
you up? how do you arrange your
apps, by the way? what’s your
favorite shade of blue? sometimes
when men talk about themselves I
like to imagine I’m transcribing their
monologues in my head and I like
to picture how many page breaks
I have to make. I file them into a mental
folder called Brief Interviews with Hideous
Men. but with you I would take the things
you say and I would stick them inside a
leaf book. did I ever tell you about the time
a dude asked me to be his scribe for him?
you up? why are people who love
each other still sending each other
heart emojis when there’s the shooting
star emoji? the sunset on the horizon emoji?
I want to trace an excel sheet over your
body and share it with you on Google
Drive. I want to do with you what
night does to the smell of the
ground by morning.
originally published in Shabby Doll House
you up?
you think food would taste different
if you ate it underwater? how long you
think magic hour lasts for on Neptune?
what do you think cellulite would look
like on fish? can you believe olives are
a fruit? you ever notice that OM is, okay,
yes, the sound of the universe, but also
the sound literally every little kid makes
when speaking into a fan?
you up? you ever think about how
English maybe isn’t our first language?
the way I’m sitting right now is my
first language. the way I bring my
hand to your jaw line is my first language. the
way I become movement inside
your hands is my first language.
you up? did your mom ever make you
talk to shit? my mom imbued life into
every corner and crumb of my small
world, and now as an adult woman
my heart breaks every time I find
an empty snail shell, or for the worms
on rainy mornings who aren’t going
to have enough time to make it to
the other side of the driveway.
you up? you ever feel like when you
fall in love it’s just this feeling of having
known someone before, but also of
wanting to find out how much time you can
kill counting the pockets and handles you
can make together with your bodies? there’s
the age-old that goes love is forgetting
about death, but when I’m with you
I also forget about the internet.
you up? how do you arrange your
apps, by the way? what’s your
favorite shade of blue? sometimes
when men talk about themselves I
like to imagine I’m transcribing their
monologues in my head and I like
to picture how many page breaks
I have to make. I file them into a mental
folder called Brief Interviews with Hideous
Men. but with you I would take the things
you say and I would stick them inside a
leaf book. did I ever tell you about the time
a dude asked me to be his scribe for him?
you up? why are people who love
each other still sending each other
heart emojis when there’s the shooting
star emoji? the sunset on the horizon emoji?
I want to trace an excel sheet over your
body and share it with you on Google
Drive. I want to do with you what
night does to the smell of the
ground by morning.
originally published in Shabby Doll House
