Picnic

Never would I have thought of carrying $12 wine

& truffle goat cheese & two Nintendo switches

in a big Whole Foods bag across the Central Park Zoo

as romantic, never the fishy penguin exhibit

or the free walking blue peacock with tulips growing

from its head, the curious tamarin tapping glass,

reminding you, hey, all zoo animals are animals

in captivity.

Never the captivity. The endless persuasion

of our fingers interlaced, never the way you gazed

at the tall pretty buildings from the Bow Bridge,

the six dollar fruit bar sold at the stand,

I stood then on that bridge with my camera pointed

at the big blue above us, filled completely:

the goat cheese, the dessert wine your brother bought,

the pepperoni, the fruit bar. I stood then, filled;

Still, I am trying to find a way to you through these words,

to leave you something good here.

Here. Have me, all of it. It’s all I know & all I can give.

Take it. I am asking you to

love me.