Now that I am the person under your skin
I will overcook the green beans
and scrub the mud stains off of your elbows.
I’ll go back to 1979; I’ll wear metal shoes
and a brown paper bag over my heart.
I’ll bolt the bedroom window shut,
tie your feet to the bedposts,
and lock the past in the liquor cabinet.
I’ll freeze your heart and lungs
so that I can thaw them out
and serve them up, juicy,
ready to love.

NICOLE ME SANTALUCIA is the author of Because I Did Not Die (Bordighera Press). She teaches creative writing at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania and brings poetry workshops into prisons, nursing homes, and the Boys & Girls Club.