Chi Siegel
my lover starts seeing

after a.b. yehoshua’s “facing the forests”

my lover starts seeing
our house as a forest.       my lover begins counting by the tree
its singing throbs              with more than words, whisperings
of warm & summer           & night. sacredness
bringing a lump                in his throat.
this green,                         this sea does not rustle,
it’s small,                          like tombstones,
something constant           with its leaves.

my lover would                 welcome conflagration.
my lover would                 leap into its arms.
………………………this is to say:
………………………it hasn’t always
………………………been this silent here.

the crimson glory of        sunlight, the distant oil spill
sea behind that                             of the trees,
sap leaking                       like spit from his ridged & cracking
………………………tongue.

………………………now kindled,
………………………now his eyes glow.
………………………how assertively the forest
………………………leaves its mark.

now fire burns,                 like a prayer,
a mad moon hangs           red in the sky,
just because he wanted    to know how it is to blaze.

Chi Siegel is currently based in Oxford, U.K., though she was born and raised in San Jose, CA. She is the co-founder and Art Director of Sine Theta Magazine, a creative arts magazine by and for the Sino diaspora.

Cover photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Issue #31.