the incomplete museum of you

the incomplete museum of you by Angel Leal

20 lines
Issue 4 (Spring 2024)

i’ll keep the honey of your mind:
your young plot to lure fairies
 with a ring of handmade mushrooms.

this was your first poem, the first attempt
to sing with your feet when you ran outside
 looking for a wing made of summer.

i’ve uncovered too a box of rain & feathers
that were your first stories, love.
 you told of: the living, lonely sea

walking off its beach to find an old woman’s hand.
cats bonding with orange trees
 recalling each other for centuries.

but my favorite museum still is your healing body.
the memory of you discovering
  you—changing

your name, letting the long story
of your hair finally become
 a brief poem & rewriting

all the rewriting you’ve done
to survive, to love this life again