raven
i memorized you
your unevenness
the inconsistencies
in your face
remember that sunday
from our pillows we watched
researchers throw rocks
at ravens, months later
the birds attacked
oil-slick vengeance
from the treetops
ravens never forget
you said, they hold grudges
i said, they remember faces
as you walked down the stairs
the birds aching in the trees
remember, screamed the faces
but i listened
the treacherous wind
bore no warnings
confessional
i told my husband if i die first, his mourning should be endless
he should not find love with someone new
i want the memory of me to linger and cling
i want the neighbors to find my impression in the pillows
my curls thick along the baseboard
oakland foothill gothic
i said it like a joke
but i meant it like a curse
my love is grasping and total
my fear of oblivion absolute
what’s left of me may be air
but i want him to gasp that air
hold me in his lungs until i am stale and unrecognizable
and even then, bottle me up
shelve me among my knick knacks and books
which he must also never get rid of
for what it’s worth, it’s not his fault
he loves me as much as a human can love
but god help me, i am starving and want more
want all of him, the present and future
the past if i could manage it
i want to be a requirement for someone’s existence
known fully and necessary
love is something
i desire utterly
the way a wolf desires a rabbit
i can only grow wider, not wiser, in the telling of it
i take up too much space and require more
a goldfish outgrowing the bowl
and the tub
and the lake
don’t release me
there will be no food left for native fauna
i will take it all into myself
and expand
and wonder where it all went
Katrina Greco is a poet and educator in Oakland. Her work can be found or is forthcoming in Maiden Magazine, Volume Poetry, The Champagne Room, and Eunoia Review. Her debut collection Everywhere Green and Scorch Marked is available from White Stag Publishing. Her favorite historical feud is Anne Boleyn versus literally everyone in Tudor England at some point or another.
