(poem by Vaishnavi Radhakrishnan)
Other than the fact that you don’t like caramel chocolate, I love you
(After Nazim Hikmet)
I love you
Like dipping puff pastry in sugar milk and eating spoons full of it
Like watching a clipping of sea otters cuddling themselves to sleep
Like walking too deep into the ocean, losing balance, becoming chaos under waves
and then being able to see the sky again, head propped up for a breath
I love you
Like having a 70×40 inch map unraveled on the floor and encircling upon it all the places to travel to until the world looks like it has more hula hoops than countries
I love you
Like finding a comfortable corner in the library and swooning over endless novels
warm, safe, home
Like words, beautiful words – buttons, bellies, butterscotch –
honey soaked, rolling off the pillow of my tongue
I love you
Like a prayer hymned
in silence.
