I remember the first omen
August in St. Augustine
We sat at the tiki bar, sipping pina coladas
It was the end of our honeymoon
The bartender said, “Wow, you’re a beautiful couple
You’ll surely make beautiful babies”
The monarch fluttered between us
Ending those days under the sun
We carved giant tortoises in the sand
.
I left you and took a backpack to Harlem
The inevitability of change
The opening of infinite possibility
Rolled off the tongue like sticky taffy
“Careful, dear, don’t choke”
The monarch stuck to a passing bus
“It’s an omen”
We pointed sinful fingers into the sky
.
I sit in the jungle depths
Butterflies are everywhere
Every shape, every color
A little one follows me on a muddy path through the thick undergrowth
She stops and rests with folded wings like a closed book
“Please” I plead, “Show me your face”
But the secrets she keeps hidden in those florescent folds
Remain possessed by the cheese-puff-colored imagination
.
I remember a story
Of a boy who walked into the jungle
On the same muddy path
He hacked at low-hanging bamboo and leaves the size of couch cushions with his mighty stick
Suddenly a giant creature leapt from the shadowy brambles onto the path
The boy defensively raised his stick as the beast turned and hissed
The dragon moved slow and heavy
Two jungle kings stared each other down
The boy squinted his baby blue eyes, lunged forward and pierced the lizard in the belly with his stick
That was the day my love killed the chameleon
A thousand butterflies erupted from the belly of the beast
.
One day, the boy took me into the jungle
He showed me how to walk across a slippery log, high above the creek
He showed me how to stretch my lungs and find my soul floating under the water’s silky surface
He brought the jungle into our home
And I painted butterflies all over the walls
Art by Kėkė 