LOVE LANGUAGE

LOVE LANGUAGE

By Mae Verano

my mother calls her sister

to say that dungeness crab

is only $3.99/lb on mckee

and her sister drops off

a box of napa cabbage 

and zucchini in return.

my cousins and I recess

in the garter snake's home,

cackle bless the grass stains

on our skidded knees.

I am most loved by men

with poor impulse control and 

he with half-childhoods gifts me 

my first lesson in forgiveness.

I buy roses from the man dancing

at the intersection median

and all these sidewalk altars

remind me that anywhere

can be a holy place.

we teach our dog

to ask for blessings,

to touch his forehead 

against our hands 

the same way we learned

with our own grandmother.

and when she finally lets go,

we decorate her grave

with fake flowers from dollar tree,

ask the paleta man to ring

a litany with his bells.

and when they ask

how long we've loved this way,

I will say, "Longer than I've realized."

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