Trust

Tara Gilbert-Brever

We are in love with the boy who works
at Tom Bailey's Meat Market, just around
the corner. When you order our coffee
beans he grinds them for us because
we are girly/giggly and you call him Sir.

We're not real Jersey girls
and he can tell--our voices
yawn paper-flat. He has the voice
of a mobster's kid--he could be
on The Sopranos, you whisper.

His body has only just decided
to change; his features are still neither here
nor there, girl nor boy.
He still has that belief in everything,
grace that evaporates after thirteen.

I only want to take his picture,
watch him blush; you want to fold him
up origami-style, kitten- shaped, hide him in your beach-bag
beneath our ashtray-shells.

He's not like the ones back home,
those landlocked Wisconsin-bland
boys. Here the ocean is a sprint away,
without fail it hushes him to sleep
and hollers him awake--it belongs to him.

We see his legs churning, steady as waves,
as he pedals off on some meat-
errand. He holds the package
in both hands, his palms scales,
balancing the weight of blood.

We realize that right down to his center
he is utterly blue and clean. He's a wonder,
you gasp as we watch him trust the salt-
heavy air; it carries him gently,
promises never to let him go.

---

Tara Gilbert-Brever says "I have 2 cats and 1 husband. I have an English degree from UW-Parkside but have yet to find a job. Instead of working, I like to create photo-art on my computer. When I'm not tinkering on the PC, I serve as Assistant Poetry Editor at Eclectica.org. My poetry has appeared in the following zines: Eclectica, Muse Apprentice Guild, small spiral notebook, Poems Niederngasse, Wicked Alice , Stirring, etc...