Beautiful Woman, Rome
a posh restaurant
in Rome
in the Piazza del Popolo
just because I love the name
the woman at the table next to us
must be a model
slender as a colonnade
hair dark and long as the Tiber
skin just lighter than my cappuccino
so gorgeous that the men don't look
flips through her portfolio
alone
sips wine
drums her perfect fingernails
and looks exasperated
we cannot imagine who would leave this woman
waiting
but she sits
checks her cell phone
sighs and orders another glass
the waiter is confused
perhaps he thinks he will sit down
chat awhile
dreams of being who she's waiting for
he knows he would not leave her
alone here on the edge of the piazza
out of place
like the Michelangelo--
a small piece of perfection--
we saw this afternoon
inside a tiny church
down an alleyway
the statue and this woman
both
too beautiful to see
to the river we go
the women of the village
long of neck and deep of soul
our skin worn
we sometimes look
surprised
at how we have become old
we do not recognize
our own handswe sit at night
with the young girls of the village
we roast plantains
and sing
they will do the same
one day
now they look at us
down their noses slightly
poor old women
and we laugh, quietly
it's not like we never danced
before
I know your arms
the way you shuffle on the floor
and how you turn away
from me I used to grab your shoulders
pull you back to face my eyes but
not this time
my hold is loose and frightful
because it's been some time now
since I let you goI can't help thinking of a night
in Mexico
a packed dance floor
hard and sweaty rock 'n roll
we danced for the heat
and the beer in our blood
for tequila sweet with rhythmic lust
but that was years agoI wonder how you let me take
so much of you without
a fight
and now here you are
not strong enough to hold this dance
together to let me have the anger
you must want to give away
so we just swing and our toes
don't have to think
they know these moves
even
in their sleep
--Summer Lopez
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