Instead of Hello

He doesn’t just shoot me a glance and a smile anymore

Today my acknowledgement was the extension of his index finger and thumb

In the shape of a gun

Followed by a wink.

I asked him if we were in a ‘80s movie.

He asked me how I would like to be greeted.

I want you to kiss me on the nose and then on the lips as I laugh

To handcuff your left hand to my ankle so you’d be in the perfect position to sweep me off my feet

Or reach through the ceiling, lasso the sun, stare at us both for a moment
And conclude I am the brightest star in the solar system

To trace over the lines on my hands as if they are roads and find yourself driving

Punch three boys near you, even if they weren’t looking at me,
Because you know that there’s a 40% chance one of them was, or at least thinking about doing so

Say I’m your Juliet, that you’d die to be with me

Also that you’re not my Romeo—you’d never leave me, and you'd at least check my pulse first

Strip down because you wanted to know if you could feel any more naked around me

Hold me in your arms and rock me to sleep

Call me by your name
For we are one vessel,
Conjoined by earth and time
You only feel yourself around me

Undress me with your eyes then kiss me on the wrist

Plant a tree wherever we are just so you can carve our initials in its core

Tell me that you were only with your girlfriend because sometimes when you hold the knockoff tight enough she feels like the real thing

Say

Blessed is the One Who Makes the Evening Fall

Because in the darkness you are left alone with your thoughts and the image of me—
When the distractions are dead, we feel alive

Polish my heart to avoid stray fingerprints
Then press your hand between my atria
Forever making it a keyhole that you can open with a single touch

I want you to prove to me that you love me

To say all the unspoken words

And binding promises

Do all the things that unravel your kind

I want you to wander around with a bucket

So on the rare occasion we cross paths

You could hold it over our heads as you kissed me

So our lips would always met in the rain.

Yes, all of it.

Yes, in the middle of the hallway.

Yes, wedged between periods and people.

Because I am a hopeful romantic

Who believes that happy endings belong somewhere better than on a massage table

And that reality is only as strong as you let it be.

“I think you like the way I say hello.”

You say

You’re right.

I love everything you do.

It’s the acts you don’t that pierce my chest causing my lungs to deflate

And rib cage to shatter like fine china.

Maybe we should just come up with a handshake.