& Let’s

a found poem from “Opened Up” by Amanda Petrusich

let’s paint over our wounds         & then
       tell me

about your        nature,      home
honeywhite & fingerpicked

patterns pinning vessels deep in the tender
catskill mountains where we’re

all in. & there, let’s slowly unfold
in the creek next to the mossy bluestone

sorting the sorrow of spring into
wooden drawers & dive bars & coffee shops.

& in this place, where we’re the birds,
let’s watch the water move sun

a craggy & delicate multitone ribbon,
an abstraction of hours in the trunks of saplings.

& as books half read let’s
just want a place

grow flowers barefoot,
speak in shapes, sound filled

the reservoir with our big morning light,
soft hands clearview.

& with your blue enamel coffee cup
books lined up, your

notebook self-reckoning
blueberry eyes

let’s accumulate in every corner
of this home, let’s

light a penultimate          offer
candles more liquid,             and listen

to the bugs          opened up
       into our holy               birdsong

into always
     a pair of.

Julia Kooi Talen is a queer poet and essayist living in the midwest with their cat, Otis. Find more of her work at juliakooitalen.com.