Summer Court Love Story
Meep Matsushima
air conditioner blast on the back of my bare legs
while the boy I love pushes his hair out of his borrowed face
and asks what flavor of ice cream I like.
I want the flavor of ice cream he will lick off the plastic spoon,
and share with me. I want the flavor of ice cream
that takes like his kiss.
I say, “dreamsicle.”
he pays for our ice cream with eucalyptus leaves,
and smiles at the cashier, who’s lucky the enchantment will last
past midnight.
I am drowning in the ocean air.
I don’t know which saint to ask a changeling to stay.
I can’t live the rest of my life like this.
we woke up together in bed this morning,
but the day after tomorrow there will be someone else
in the warm spot where he slept.
a stranger will look at me through the same eyes,
and I will pull my hand away from
the body that is not my fickle faerie boy
as if burned.
Meep Matsushima is a white disabled genderqueer Rhysling-nominated poet, with poetry in Strange Horizons, Microverses, and Strange Fire: Jewish Voices from the Pandemic. Say “hi” on Twitter to @transpacifique, and find more of her poetry at http://meep-matsushima.neocities.org and http://patreon.com/meep_matsushima.