Willie L Kinard, III

Postcard

after Armando Zeferino Soares’ “Sodade” 

 

lips part / forks clink against borrowed 

breakfastware, strawberries & waffle crumbs 

scatter about them / hands part / orange juice 

is offered in a glass / i wonder whether 

the person reflected in the bacon grease still 

whispers to God while he pushes his glasses up / 

hands clasp / i look at his fork / he pushes the 

strawberries into the corner / he promises to 

send it once he gets there / i open my mouth, 

truth shivers as if struck jam / glass is emptied, 

his fogged glasses fall again / he drops his map / 

i throw his glasses somewhere in the corner / 

lips clasp / i squeeze my best bit of concern 

out of a tube / we lie in the bacon grease / 

we love until we taste the syrup in each other’s 

laugh, pray it give us one minute more to live in 

this moment / lips part / we beg that we can make 

dulcet tones just like chuckles of last time / i try 

hard to taste them / hands clasp / i strike jam / 

lips part / strawberries fall from his eyes / truth 

flies a foot over my head / he opens his mouth / 

glass fills with truth shot across the room / hands 

part / i clean up the crumbs / he steps on his 

glasses / i throw away the forks / he takes his 

plates / the corner smells like waffles / i wipe 

orange juice from my brow / i try hard not to forget 

what his map tastes like / he gets there / he 

doesn’t send it / i wish we hadn’t stopped laughing

 

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Willie L. Kinard III is a graphic designer and poet of South Carolina cricket songs. Co-Creator & Editor-in-Chief of For the Scribes, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in Glass: A Journal of Poetry, the Shade Journal, & Platypus Press’s A Portrait in Blues, among others. An MFA candidate in the Creative Writing program at the University of Pittsburgh, Willie’s pocket of the Internet is located at www.williekinardiii.com.