of ink and swords

remember these summer nights of 1931 when the world was like a noir film all moving shadows cinematic,                     full of cigarette smoke & art deco elegance 1. YOUR laugh echoes through the Sicilian coast 2. MY jeweled fingers twisted on your wrist 3. YOUR soothing voiсe, whispering “amore mio” 4. MY mind, drunk on you and champagne (the woman tasted the words on her tongue “will you still worship me when all the divinity will crumble from my skin, as if i was an exquisite rose, so fragile in my youth and beauty? the man grinned, his smile aimed at her heart like a loaded gun "if all your petals would wither, i would still love your thorns.”) 5. YOU, in an aura of gunpowder and moonlight, telling me to run 6. YOU, laying on the cold asphalt, wounds blooming on your body like red flowers 7. YOU, pale and unrecognizable in a mahogany coffin 8. ME, dressed in all in black on your funeral, veil hiding my face 9. ME, drinking the salt of my tears like communal wine 10. ME, in agony, dying, dead now our love is just a distant memory                                 like a cracking vinyl record set up on a warm july evening jazz tunes flowing with the wind making the weightless curtains twirl

i. don’t you underestimate a boy because of his young age for it is known that scrawny little cubs grow up to be roaring lions with a mane as golden as the sun, claws ready to tear and a heart bolder than yours ii. don’t you discourage a girl because of her gender for it is known that the female wolves are more fierce than the male with teeth sharp and cruel and a soul of a warrior howling out in the night

so i ask you, philosopher, king, priest, if we’re such weak creatures as you claim we are, why are you so afraid of a gilded sword in a woman’s gentle hand?

i. Maybe you were truly born out of foam Like an iron Aphrodite Terrible and beautiful Seawater running through your veins And a thousand storms raging in your lungs ii. They said that a woman on a ship is bad luck They spat overboard and talked about how unfortunate your presence is Those men ended all the same For the last thing they saw Was your red-stained face And carnivore grin iii. You were Neptune’s daughter Drowning was never an option to die While the ocean claimed the sailors one by one swallowing them whole The water just embraced you And gave back Harder and tougher than before Metal wrapping itself around your bones Salt nestling into your scalp iv. You always seemed at place Standing beneath the sweeping flag As intimidating as the skeleton That was printed into the black material A blur of dark hair A flash of white teeth White scars and ink patterns On your shoulders and arms Like treasure maps v. So many years You have been soaring Across the cobalt oceans Like a lost seagull Searching, longing, aching Towards something that you couldn’t buy for all the gold of the Caribbean Something that would calm The outrageous hurricane In your heart And cool your boiling vortex of a soul