She has her sights set on India
her face holds a goddess glow when she shows me
the project on a cartoon colored map.
Her green eyes shock me deep into my green heart
she is a whisper in a silk sari
rose-gold bracelets sing on her brown wrists.
Will she disrobe in Goa
swim in the Arabian Sea
make a string bikini offering
leave her hammer on the shore?
She left her running shoes on my doorstep
I hold them like a cat’s trophy, see the shape of her
toe in the leather, feel the bending of her soul.
—Vicki Vener Iorio, from Poems from the Dirty Couch