Clingy with goodbyes – IN MIND AND OUT

I found my first goodbye
in the palm of my mother’s hands,
sharp against the smooth satin
of our skin
this goodbye was the rainy day
that shaped the retinas of my eyes
and the vertebrae of my soul
It lasted longer than the days and the weeks
I grazed my knees with it
and marked it on the calendar

From then on, I found goodbyes everywhere
especially in hellos, or a moment alone,
a bouquet of flowers
I had a collection
that I displayed in my eyes,
you can still see it if I blink too fast,
pooled in the corners
a little vacancy between a sheen and a smile
the milky part of a faraway galaxy

After a while, I clung to goodbyes
like they were my friends
in a room full of strangers
they were the spine that held me up,
the jawbone that forced the smile