by Jade Nicole Beals

How do I word this: I want to enjoy a dessert that has not yet existed. I want to kiss as a practice. If you wish to.

How did I find this video again? I practice the dance; I must try it again. I go to the mall to buy a top, and I come away with a shake. And a kiss.

Your lips cover mine in soft, full kisses: Seal this. In silence, only this redolence I come away with on the threads of my homespun top and…

…Like this: “Say the line I gave you.” I say it. “And the first one that comes to mind?” I say it. There is no you but you. I follow you along

your word for word, highlight after highlight, cross through, a truer definition. I meander with you beyond the peal of train bells; I let the thread fall with the undone fells.

But you’ve uncovered the pearls that have not stopped glistening, and I will continue beyond this refrain, beyond one rhyme or one reason. You stop the question.

*

(a recent poem, could be a part of a future traditional verse poetry book, even if I created this ‘traditional form’ myself: repeating a word or two from previous verse in the ones to come, and I will also hide the rest of new poems awhile for a book unread for reader surprise enjoyment!)

—Jade