Tejan Green – Three Poems


 

Picking up

We never had a Mexico that was
almost California. There was no perfection
and nothing for you to rescue me from. There was
moonlight and magic, but briefly. Some of our romance
appeared perhaps only in my  imagination.

Now, you sip coffee with me and we discuss separate paths.
You say some of the same things, but they don’t make me feel
like they used to. Somehow this surprises and disappoints me.
It’s funny the difference a few years makes.
What I once thought only belonged to me, has been used up
in many places, shared with many people.

Things don’t actually belong to us. People don’t actually belong to us.
But a little southern comfort goes a long way.

“Aren’t things funny?”

Yes, things are funny.



Southbound Train

something for you to carry

instead
share a little pain
sip a lot of wine
we are in deep devotion
after walking many miles
all have been searching for help
patch up this broken skin

how does it feel to be the answer?



Pat Sees

Sometimes the reality of a harsh world rears its pointed head,
pokes holes in my sides, and waits for the soul to pour out. 
Why do you care so much?
I don’t know. 
There is laughter against the backdrop of a trumpet sound.
It’s satire or whatever.
Maybe this will push her down to size…
4…6.
Well, that’s the size she’s been trying to get pushed down to.
Compressed. I guess.
Slash marks in your judgement then rest tired bones
swallowed up by a life-giving blue/green, gold speckled 
peacock frock gifted to me from my mother in 93′.
Sometimes mama makes it all better.


 

Author’s Statement on Beauty

Beauty is so deeply connected to feeling. It pleases you. It excites you. It might even frustrate you. It makes you feel something. It reminds you of the sort of things you value. Beauty is magic. Beauty is the daydream we get lost in.


 

Tejan Green is a New York based poet and English lecturer. Her most recent creative project is a co-authored poetry collection on love and loss titled We Were Us (Teng Publishing 2015).