"Incense At Sanam Luang Shrine During Bathing Ritual, Part Of Thai New Year Celebrations, Thailand" by Richard I'Anson/Lonely Planet Images

I want to be inside
that safe space
full of angles-

your elbows resting on the table,
your legs crossed beneath,

not the way I saw you
in the photo where you are
sitting on a couch and smiling-

you are leaning forward
about to tell another story.

I want to draw your corners in
around me, let their smoke wane
in my hair, my eyes, my mouth-

I want to taste well-being,
hear it jingle on my tongue
likethe sound of a dozen bracelets
around one wrist.

You don't have on the gift I gave you
for your birthday, you say
you are afraid
of losing it.

So am I.

BIO: Adrienne Lewis is the Editor of the Paradidomi Review and The Rooftop chaplet series for Mayapple Press. Her work has appeared in various print and literary journals, including the Hiram Poetry Review, Controlled Burn, the Driftwood Review, Poetry Midwest, the Poetry Super Highway, and Poets in Their Thirties. Her first collection of poetry (Coming Clean) was released in 2004; a collection entitled Compared to This is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in 2005. Lewis teaches English at Kirtland Community College in Roscommon, Michigan. EMAIL: c/o Moondance