i Want to Dance with Queen Anne’s Lace too

Under the cascading of the willow tree dancing in the wind where you and i lay — you whispering I don’t think I could ever let you

leave me in my ear just an octave above the breeze. Through the veil,

we saw the wildflowers swaying to the music i couldn’t hear. The field was like an arranged

bouquet. i wondered why anyone planted a garden, controlling

where every flower existed—

forcing each one away from the next so that there wasn’t this wildflower freedom.

i wanted to go out from the shade of the willow and smell the fresh floral scent, but you wanted us to dream of escaping

into the forest, spending our time reading The Great Gatsby and Jane Eyre. You wanted to paint something like the big-sad-eyed people the way the Keanes did. Your fingers swirling a map in my skin so you could always find me. You finally took

me here after weeks of begging. Last night, you thought you were having a heart attack when i wanted to visit my family. You felt better after i promised to stay.

You promised to protect me

from my foolish decisions, my foolish family, my foolish me

the way Tom did for Daisy. i felt your grip tightening

around my arm as you whispered forever. The floral scent engulfed

me like cheap perfumes trapping

too much fragrance in that small bottle. It was too artificial.

If i could go back, i would go through the curtain of the willow and i think it could all look so romantic

as you would’ve chased me through the wildflowers

wildfires itching up my legs.